Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Neuroscience

Ex Vivo Optogenetic Dissection of Fear Circuits in Brain Slices

Daniel Bosch¹, Douglas Asede², Ingrid Ehrlich¹

¹Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research and Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, ²Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

Optogenetic approaches are widely used to manipulate neural activity and assess the consequences for brain function. Here, a technique is outlined that upon in vivo expression of the optical activator Channelrhodopsin, allows for ex vivo analysis of synaptic properties of specific long range and local neural connections in fear-related circuits.

Behavior

Longitudinal Two-Photon Imaging of Dorsal Hippocampal CA1 in Live Mice

Alessandro F. Ulivi¹, Tim P. Castello-Waldow¹, Ghabiba Weston^1,2, Long Yan³, Ryohei Yasuda³, Alon Chen^1,4, Alessio Attardo¹

¹Dept. of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, ²Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig Maximilians University, ³Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, ⁴Dept. of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science

This method describes a chronic preparation that allows optical access to the hippocampus of living mice. This preparation can be used to perform longitudinal optical imaging of neuronal structural plasticity and activity-evoked cellular plasticity over a period of several weeks.

Genetics

Use of Freeze-thawed Embryos for High-efficiency Production of Genetically Modified Mice

Hirofumi Nishizono^*1,2,3, Mohamed Darwish^*4,5, Hideki Uosaki^6,7, Nanami Masuyama^8,9,10, Motoaki Seki^8,11, Hiroyuki Abe³, Nozomu Yachie^8,9,10,12,13, Ryohei Yasuda¹

¹Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, ²Life Science Research Center, University of Toyama, ³Department of Biochemical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, ⁴Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, ⁵Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, ⁶Division of Regenerative Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Jichi Medical University, ⁷Division of Stem Cell Research and Drug Development, Center for Development of Advanced Medical Technology, Jichi Medical University, ⁸Synthetic Biology Division, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, ⁹Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, ¹⁰Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, ¹¹Department of Molecular Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, ¹²Department of Biological Sciences, School of Science, University of Tokyo, ¹³College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo

Here, we present a modified method for cryopreservation of one-cell embryos as well as a protocol that couples the use of freeze-thawed embryos and electroporation for the efficient generation of genetically modified mice.