Speakers > Takafumi Minamimoto
Takafumi Minamimoto NIQST, Japan Chemogenetic activation of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons in freely moving common marmosets
A chemogenetic technique, Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs), offers a valuable means to remotely control neural activity in living animals. We have established imaging-guided chemogenetics—multi-tracer PET imaging methods for validating DREADD expression and assessing the functional effects of DREADDs in vivo. We applied imaging-guided chemogenetics to marmosets and demonstrated that the activity of a specific neuronal population, such as DA neurons, can be controlled for hours. Alterations of behavioral sequences can be extracted and quantified using a novel markerless motion tracking system and a non-parametric Bayesian algorithm. Our strategy combining chemogenetic tools and behavioral analysis has great potential for elucidating the link between neuronal activity and behavior in marmosets. |
