Using opioid receptors to expand the chemogenetic and optogenetic toolbox
Diane M Damez-Werno1, Paul J Kenny1
1Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA.
Neuron
|May 22, 2015
Abstract:
In this issue of Neuron, innovative new modifications to opioid receptors are used to expand the tools available to modulate neuronal activity. Vardy et al. (2015) describe a new "DREADD" chemogenetic tool based on the inhibitory κ opioid receptor (KORD) that can be used in conjunction with already-available DREADDs. Siuda et al. (2015) report the development of "opto-MOR," a light-activatable μ opioid receptor (MOR) chimera that can be used to better understand the complexities of MOR signaling.


