A Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Sensor Enables Rapid and Specific Detection of Dopamine in Flies, Fish, and Mice

Dopamine (DA) is a central monoamine neurotransmitter involved in many physiological and pathological processes. A longstanding yet largely unmet goal is to measure DA changes reliably and specifically with high spatiotemporal precision, particularly in animals executing complex behaviors. Here, we report the development of genetically encoded GPCR-activation-based-DA (GRAB_DA) sensors that enable these measurements. In response to extracellular DA, GRAB_DA sensors exhibit large fluorescence increases (ΔF/F₀ ∼90%) with subcellular resolution, subsecond kinetics, nanomolar to submicromolar affinities, and excellent molecular specificity. GRAB_DA sensors can resolve a single-electrical-stimulus-evoked DA release in mouse brain slices and detect endogenous DA release in living flies, fish, and mice. In freely behaving mice, GRAB_DA sensors readily report optogenetically elicited nigrostriatal DA release and depict dynamic mesoaccumbens DA signaling during Pavlovian conditioning or during sexual behaviors. Thus, GRAB_DA sensors enable spatiotemporally precise measurements of DA dynamics in a variety of model organisms while exhibiting complex behaviors.