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Updated: Apr 7, 2026
Combined In Vivo Anatomical and Functional Tracing of Ventral Tegmental Area Glutamate Terminals in the Hippocampus
Published on: September 9, 2020
Cre Activated and Inactivated Recombinant Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors for Neuronal Anatomical Tracing or Activity
Arpiar Saunders1, Bernardo L Sabatini1
1Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract:
Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) transcriptionally activated by Cre recombinase (Cre-On) are powerful tools for determining the anatomy and function of genetically defined neuronal types in transgenic Cre driver mice. Here we describe how rAAVs transcriptionally inactivated by Cre (Cre-Off) can be used in conjunction with Cre-On rAAVs or genomic Cre-reporter alleles to study brain circuits. Intracranial injection of Cre-On/Cre-Off rAAVs into spatially intermingled Cre(+) and Cre(-) neurons allows these populations to be differentially labeled or manipulated within individual animals. This comparison helps define the unique properties of Cre(+) neurons, highlighting the specialized role they play in their constituent brain circuits. This protocol touches on the conceptual and experimental background of Cre-Off rAAV systems, including caveats and methods of validation.
