Near infrared upconversion optogenetics

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K15025
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General physiology
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Yawo Hiromu 東北大学, 生命科学研究科, 教授 (00144353)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ISHIZUKA Toru 東北大学, 大学院生命科学研究科, 講師 (10344714) ; YUASA Hideya 東京工業大学, 大学院生命理工学研究科, 教授 (90261156)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 光遺伝学 / 近赤外光駆動 / アップコンバージョン / ナノ粒子 / チャネルロドプシン / ニューロン / 脳機能操作 / オプトジェネティクス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Optogenetics is an innovative neuroscience method to control the neural activity even in a living animal. The near infrared (NIR) light (wavelength, 650-1450 nm) penetrates deeper in tissues than the visible light, and is a candidate signal to the brain from outside of the body. However, there have not been the tools to catch the near infrared signal for optogenetics. The lanthanide nanoparticles (LNPs), composed of rare-earth elements, absorb low-energy NIR light to emit high-energy visible light (up-conversion). We created a hybrid optogenetic system which consists of the donor LNPs and the acceptor ChRs which are highly sensitive to the emission wavelengths of LNPs. When the NIR laser light was applied to nearby LNPs, the membrane potential was depolarized to evoke action potentials. It is suggested that the green luminescent light emitted from UCNPs effectively activated ChRs to generate enough large photocurrent to change neural activities even in the living animal.

Free Research Field

神経生理学