神经活动即神经兴奋的产生与传递,阐明神经活动的基本过程是现代脑科学的目标之一.神经活动的光控制用光作为激活和抑制神经活动的手段,主要通过笼锁化合物、光敏感蛋白、光开关蛋白等物质的光活化或直接光刺激来实现.光控制神经活动的方法具有操作简单、非接触、高时空分辨、可定量重复等优势,因此在基础和临床神经生物学研究中具有广阔的应用前景.综述了各种光控制神经活动方法的原理、特点及最新进展,分析了其技术发展的趋势.
Neural activity is a process of induction and propagation of neural excitability, clarifying whose mechanism is one of the basic goals of modem neuroscience. It is necessary to manipulate, stimulate or silence specific sets of neurons, when determine their role in brain function, and to achieve this goal with light is a new approach to control neural activities. Photostimulation techniques have been achieved through four approaches: light-mediated uncaging of chemically modified signaling molecules, excitation of light-sensitive proteins introduced into neurons, chemical modification of ion channels and receptors to render them light-responsive, and optical stimulation of neurons. Optical controlling of neural activity proves to be noninvasive, noncontact, and easy to repeat, which has been harnessed to rapidly activate or silence neurons. This optical control allows precise, millisecond control of neural circuits, which possesses a wide application prospect in fields of the foundation and clinical neuroscience. Here it the principles and applications of these optical controlling methods were reviewed, and their development trends in technical improvements and applications were discussed.