Fiber-optic Implantation for Chronic Optogenetic Stimulation of Brain Tissue

The aim of the following experiment is to activate and study neuronal circuits long term in awake, behaving mice. This method is adapted from the concept originally described in Sparta etal. This is achieved by first assembling a fiber optic couple cord, which connects the optical rotary joint to the fiber optic implant.

Next, the fiber optic is implanted over the brain tissue of interest to create a passage for the light to travel directly to the channel redin expressing neurons. Finally, the light source is connected to the optical rotary joint in order to create a serially connected path from the light source to the brain tissue. Ultimately, light induced firing of channel redsin expressing neurons can be evaluated based on in vivo, electrophysiology, and behavioral studies.