Parnad Basu, Amity University Kolkata
What happens in our neuron system that we do what we do! Scientists have made some serious progress trying to find out the answer. In a recent study FLiCRE (Fast Light and Calcium-Regulated Expression) tool was used to perform research tasks like tagging, recording, and controlling cellular functions inside any desired cell. The main goal of this study was to find out more about human psychiatric diseases such as depression. To do that, they focused primarily on a brain region known as nucleus accumbens.
The FLiCRE tool is used in mice to see if the process becomes successful or not. Researchers used FLiCRE along with a protein called opsin (a protein that can bind with light-reactive chemicals). To get FLiCRE to penetrate a cell, they used a virus in two parts as a carrier. One part will get attached to the cell membrane containing a protein that can penetrate the cell nucleus, while the other part will free the proteins under certain conditions. This whole process was done to monitor the avoidance behavior in mice. Whenever mice with FLiCRE-induced cells avoided something, a spike was observed. The cell showed a permanent red glow which was visible through a microscope. Scientists then activated the FLiCRE inside the cell which triggered mice to avoid entering a room with orange lights.
An ambitious project like this being successful is a big step to understand many things like inter-connected brain regions. Not only that FLiCRE also saves a considerable amount of time compared to other pre-existing tagging tools. Further improvements in this tool can make it useful to understand various other biochemical events.
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Reference: A Molecular Calcium Integrator Reveals a Striatal Cell Type Driving Aversion Christina K. Kim et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.11.015
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