PROMOTER-BASED FUNCTIONAL MAPPING OF AMYGDALA MICROCIRCUITS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This project uses cell-type specific promoters to drive fluorescent reporters to aid in optically guided electrophysiological recording from specific subpopulations of neurons within organotypic slice cultures of the rodent and primate amygdala. During the reporting period, we continued to investigate the physiological and morphological properties of cholecystokinin (CCK) containing interneurons using the CCK promoter tagged with a green fluorescent protein (GFP). This lentiviral construct was then used to transfect neurons in vivo, only those neurons that normally express CCK co-expressed GFP. We used this approach to examine the physiological properties of CCK interneurons in the rat basolateral amygdala. During the reporting period, we continued to develop lentiviral vectors for the parvalbumin, somatostatin, and calretinin subpopulations of cortical interneurons. In addition, we worked on incorporating light-activated channel-rhodopsin (ChR2) protein into our lentiviral backbone. Our technologies will continue to use light to selectively activate subpopulations of neurons in awake behaving animals.