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Optical Control of Glutamate Receptors of the NMDA-Kind in Mammalian Neurons, with the Use of Photoswitchable Ligands

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Book cover Biochemical Approaches for Glutamatergic Neurotransmission

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 130))

Abstract

N -Methyl- d -aspartate receptors (NMDAR) are members of the glutamate binding ligand-gated receptors. They are primarily found at excitatory synapses, essential for some of the most prominent forms of synaptic plasticity pertaining to learning and memory (Nabavi et al., 2014; Bliss and Lomo, 1973) and their dysfunction underlies diverse diseases (Newcomer et al., 2000; Burnashev and Szepetowski, 2015). By combining genetic manipulations of NMDAR subunits and synthetic chemical photoswitches, we have recently developed a family of light-gated, or photoswitchable, NMDA receptors to gate plasticity in vitro and in vivo. This approach—synthetic optogenetics (Berlin and Isacoff, 2017)—enables to confer remote, rapid, and reversible optical modulation of NMDA receptors of a particular subunit composition. This chapter describes the use of azobenzene-based tethered photoswitches and engineered NMDAR subunits to engender the NMDA-receptor light-sensitive; in cultured hippocampal neurons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Shai Berlin & Ehud Y. Isacoff

  2. The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Shai Berlin

  3. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Ehud Y. Isacoff

  4. Physical Bioscience Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Ehud Y. Isacoff

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  1. Shai Berlin
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  2. Ehud Y. Isacoff
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Correspondence to Ehud Y. Isacoff .

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  1. Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France

    Sandrine Parrot

  2. Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France

    Luc Denoroy

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Berlin, S., Isacoff, E.Y. (2018). Optical Control of Glutamate Receptors of the NMDA-Kind in Mammalian Neurons, with the Use of Photoswitchable Ligands. In: Parrot, S., Denoroy, L. (eds) Biochemical Approaches for Glutamatergic Neurotransmission. Neuromethods, vol 130. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7228-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7228-9_10

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