Silencing synapses with DREADDs.
In this issue of Neuron, Stachniak et al. (2014) determine that the chemogenetic silencer hM4Di-DREADD suppresses presynaptic glutamate release, and by generating an axon-targeted hM4Di variant they demonstrate that it can be used to locally silence synaptic transmission in neural circuits.
Department of Pharmacology, 4072 Genetic Medicine Building, UNC Chapel Hill Medical School, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA.
Hu
H
Zhu
Department of Pharmacology, 4072 Genetic Medicine Building, UNC Chapel Hill Medical School, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. Electronic address: bryan_roth@med.unc.edu.
Bryan L
BL
Roth
D000818:Animals; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000166:cytology*; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*