title: DREADDs for Neuroscientists.
abstract: To understand brain function, it is essential that we discover how cellular signaling specifies normal and pathological brain function. In this regard, chemogenetic technologies represent valuable platforms for manipulating neuronal and non-neuronal signal transduction in a cell-type-specific fashion in freely moving animals. Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD)-based chemogenetic tools are now commonly used by neuroscientists to identify the circuitry and cellular signals that specify behavior, perceptions, emotions, innate drives, and motor functions in species ranging from flies to nonhuman primates. Here I provide a primer on DREADDs highlighting key technical and conceptual considerations and identify challenges for chemogenetics going forward.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Medical School, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. Electronic address: bryan_roth@med.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Bryan L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter / Q000819:agonists / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter
keywords: DREADD; chemical biology; chemogenetic; synthetic biology