Overview of Services
Below is a list of existing capabilities and techniques in which we are experienced. Of course, we are willing to expand our capabilities and attempt new techniques if needed! Click here to submit a request for TVEC services.
Electrophysiological measures*
- whole cell, cell-attached, and field recordings
- passive and active membrane properties
- excitatory or inhibitory transmission
Acute brain slice preparations
- dorsal and ventral hippocampus
- nucleus accumbens
- basolateral amygdala
- ventral midbrain
- prefrontal cortex
Complementary assays and tools
In vivo ethanol exposure:
- chambers for ethanol vapor exposure
- 2BC, DID, and operant self-administration
Cell-type and circuit identification:
- Drd1a-tdTomato mice and Pitx3-egfp transgenic mice
- CtB-Alexa Fluor for retrograde labeling of neurons
Cell-type and circuit manipulation:
- optogenetic stimulation or silencing ex vivo
- optogenetic silencing in vivo in MedAssociates chambers
- chemogenetic silencing
*Expanded Description of Electrophysiological Measures
In general, numbers (1) - (6) of the following measures can be collected from GABAergic, glutamatergic,
or dopaminergic neurons, and measure (7) also can be collected from some types of neurons (e.g., dopamine neurons):
(1) membrane properties and excitability
(2) spontaneous and miniature AMPAR-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs and mEPSCs)
(3) ratio of evoked AMPAR-mediated EPSC to evoked NMDAR-mediated EPSC (AMPA/NMDA)
(4) rectification index from current-voltage relationship for evoked AMPAR-mediated EPSCs – indicative of
calcium-permeable AMPAR contribution to AMPAR-mediated EPSCs
(5) spontaneous and miniature GABAAR-mediated inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs and mIPSCs
(6) synaptic plasticity – long term depression or potentiation of evoked events
(7) spontaneous action potential firing
If experimental manipulations alter measures (2) or (5), then measure (8), paired-pulse ratio of evoked currents, can be evaluated as an indicator for differences in pre-synaptic neurotransmitter release probability. An effect on measure (3) can be considered alongside effects on measures (2) and (4) and further investigated with measure (9), input-output curve for evoked NMDAR-mediated EPSCs. In addition, measures (1) and (5) - (9) are responsive to acute ethanol application and therefore also can be evaluated for interactions between experimental manipulations and responses to ethanol ex vivo.
Examples: