Nonthermal and reversible control of neuronal signaling and behavior by midinfrared stimulation.

Various neuromodulation approaches have been employed to alter neuronal spiking activity and thus regulate brain functions and alleviate neurological disorders. Infrared neural stimulation (INS) could be a potential approach for neuromodulation because it requires no tissue contact and possesses a high spatial resolution. However, the risk of overheating and an unclear mechanism hamper its application. Here we show that midinfrared stimulation (MIRS) with a specific wavelength exerts nonthermal, long-distance, and reversible modulatory effects on ion channel activity, neuronal signaling, and sensorimotor behavior. Patch-clamp recording from mouse neocortical pyramidal cells revealed that MIRS readily provides gain control over spiking activities, inhibiting spiking responses to weak inputs but enhancing those to strong inputs. MIRS also shortens action potential (AP) waveforms by accelerating its repolarization, through an increase in voltage-gated K+ (but not Na+) currents. Molecular dynamics simulations further revealed that MIRS-induced resonance vibration of -C=O bonds at the K+ channel ion selectivity filter contributes to the K+ current increase. Importantly, these effects are readily reversible and independent of temperature increase. At the behavioral level in larval zebrafish, MIRS modulates startle responses by sharply increasing the slope of the sensorimotor input-output curve. Therefore, MIRS represents a promising neuromodulation approach suitable for clinical application.

Core Modulation of 70-Nuclei Core-Shell Silver Nanoclusters.

The reaction of {(HNEt3 )2 [Ag10 (tBuC6 H4 S)12 ]}n , Ag2 O, Na2 MoO4 , and m-methoxybenzoic acid (Hmbc) in CH3 OH/CH2 Cl2 led to yellow crystals of [Ag4 S4 (MoO4 )5 @Ag66 ] (SD/Ag70b; SD=SunDi) only, while in the presence of DMF, additional dark-red crystals of [Ag10 @ (MoO4 )7 @Ag60 ] (SD/Ag70a) were obtained. SD/Ag70b consists of five MoO4 2- ions wrapped by a shell of 66 Ag atoms, while SD/Ag70a contains a rare Ag10 kernel consisting of five tetrahedra sharing faces and edges, surrounded by seven MoO4 2- ions enclosed in a shell of 60 Ag atoms. The formation of the Ag10 kernel originates from a reduction reaction during the self-assembly process that involves DMF. This work provides the structural information of a unique Ag10 kernel (five fused Ag4 tetrahedra) and paves an avenue to trap elusive silver species with hierarchical multi-shell silver nanocluster assemblies with the help of anion templates.

All-optical interrogation of brain-wide activity in freely swimming larval zebrafish.

We introduce an all-optical technique that enables volumetric imaging of brain-wide calcium activity and targeted optogenetic stimulation of specific brain regions in unrestrained larval zebrafish. The system consists of three main components: a 3D tracking module, a dual-color fluorescence imaging module, and a real-time activity manipulation module. Our approach uses a sensitive genetically encoded calcium indicator in combination with a long Stokes shift red fluorescence protein as a reference channel, allowing the extraction of Ca2+ activity from signals contaminated by motion artifacts. The method also incorporates rapid 3D image reconstruction and registration, facilitating real-time selective optogenetic stimulation of different regions of the brain. By demonstrating that selective light activation of the midbrain regions in larval zebrafish could reliably trigger biased turning behavior and changes of brain-wide neural activity, we present a valuable tool for investigating the causal relationship between distributed neural circuit dynamics and naturalistic behavior.

Rapid whole brain imaging of neural activity in freely behaving larval zebrafish (Danio rerio).

The internal brain dynamics that link sensation and action are arguably better studied during natural animal behaviors. Here, we report on a novel volume imaging and 3D tracking technique that monitors whole brain neural activity in freely swimming larval zebrafish (Danio rerio). We demonstrated the capability of our system through functional imaging of neural activity during visually evoked and prey capture behaviors in larval zebrafish.

The role of elevated autophagy on the synaptic plasticity impairment caused by CdSe/ZnS quantum dots.

It is well known that autophagy, a cellular stress response to degrade damaged components, can be activated by many nanoparticles. We have demonstrated that CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs), which are widely applied in vitro for diagnostics and cellular imaging, can impair synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus (DG) area, but the mechanism is still unclear. Here we show that elevated autophagy is at least partly responsible for this synaptic dysfunction induced by QDs in vivo. QDs elicited autophagy in the HeLa cells and cultured hippocampal neurons as well, accompanied with GFP-light chain protein 3 (LC3) puncta dots and autophagosome formation, extensive conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and a significant decrease of p62. Furthermore, we found that autophagy inhibitors (wortmannin, 3-MA or chloroquine) suppressed QDs-induced autophagic flux, partly blocked LTP impairment, coincident with down-regulation of synapsin-I and synapse deficits by QDs in the hippocampal CA1 area. Our studies have important implications in providing a potential clinical remedy for brain damage caused by nanomaterials and in designing safer nanoparticles.