Neural Activity Silencing
Neural Activity Silencing - Related Videos
09:22
A Method for Remotely Silencing Neural Activity in Rodents During Discrete Phases of Learning
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Cited by 9 •
2015
This protocol describes how to temporarily and remotely silence neuronal activity in discrete brain regions while rats are engaged in learning and memory tasks. The approach combines pharmacogenetics (Designer-Receptors-Exclusively-Activated-by-Designer-Drugs) with a behavioral paradigm (sensory preconditioning) that is designed to distinguish between different components of learning.
02:35
siRNA-Mediated Gene Silencing in Neural Stem Cells
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2025
This video demonstrates the use of small interfering RNA (siRNA) to silence specific genes of interest in neural stem cells and differentiate them into desired cell types using appropriate differentiation medium. This procedure enables the study of the critical role of specific genes in the differentiation process of neural stem cells.
01:26
Chemogenetic Silencing of Neuronal Activity in a Neonatal Mouse
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2025
Place an anesthetized neonatal pup on a heating pad.Disinfect the scalp with ethanol.Fill a syringe with a viral solution containing adeno-associated viruses carrying the gene for a drug-activated inhibitory receptor and a tracking dye.Align the syringe tip with the pup’s head and slowly inject the virus into the brain for even distribution.Allow the pup to recover.During incubation, viral particles enter neurons and release their genetic material into the nucleus.It leads to inhibitory...
09:48
Neural Activity Propagation in an Unfolded Hippocampal Preparation with a Penetrating Micro-electrode Array
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Cited by 2 •
2015
We have developed an in vitro unfolded hippocampus which preserves CA1-CA3 array of neurons. Combined with the penetrating micro-electrode array, neural activity can be monitored in both the longitudinal and transverse orientations. This method provides advantages over hippocampal slice preparations as the propagation in the entire hippocampus can be recorded simultaneously.
08:47
Gene Silencing with Morpholinos
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2023
Morpholino-mediated gene silencing is a common technique used to study roles of specific genes during development. Morpholinos inhibit gene expression by hybridizing to complementary mRNAs. Due to their unique chemistry, morpholinos are easy to produce and store, which makes them remarkably cost effective compared to other gene silencing methods. This video reviews proper experimental design when using these oligonucleotides. Following that, an explanation of morpholino microinjection...
FAQs
The immediate electrical effect depends on how suppression is produced. Increasing inhibitory conductance makes it harder for excitatory inputs to drive the membrane toward firing, whereas hyperpolarization shifts the membrane away from the voltage range that supports action potentials. Either route can reduce spike output, helping investigators connect a cellular change to circuit-level behavioral effects.
Light-sensitive inhibitory proteins, drugs, and engineered receptors provide distinct ways to impose suppression, but the shared experimental target is reduced activity in selected neurons or pathways. Their use allows researchers to ask whether changing that population alters a behavior, rather than merely observing that the population is active during it. This distinction is central to causal circuit analysis.
When silencing reduces action potential firing, it also limits the electrical events that normally drive downstream neurotransmitter release. The intervention therefore can influence both the activity of the targeted neurons and the signals received by connected cells. Interpreting behavioral effects requires considering this circuit-level consequence, not only the membrane state of the silenced population.
By suppressing defined neurons or pathways while a subject performs a behavior, then assessing whether the behavioral response changes, investigators can test whether that neural element contributes causally. Reversibility is especially useful because the same circuit can be examined under active and silenced conditions. This design helps separate functional involvement from a correlation between neural activity and behavior.
Its applications span movement, motivation, learning, and social responses. Silencing can reveal whether a selected population or pathway contributes to a particular behavioral component, rather than treating behavior as a single outcome. The resulting evidence links circuit activity to specific domains of behavior and can expose distinct contributions within a broader neural system.
If reducing activity in one defined population does not eliminate a behavioral function, other circuit elements may be supporting that function, indicating possible redundancy. These outcomes can guide studies of neurological disorders by showing how circuit contributions are distributed and how behavioral effects emerge when particular neural elements are suppressed.