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US 8,932,562 B2Granted
Optically controlled CNS dysfunction
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsKarl Deisseroth, Kay Tye, Lief Fenno
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided herein are animals expressing light-responsive opsin proteins in the basal lateral amygdala of the brain and methods for producing the same wherein illumination of the light-responsive opsin proteins causes anxiety in the animal. Also provided herein are methods for alleviating and inducing anxiety in an animal as well as methods for screening for a compound that alleviates anxiety in an animal.
Claims11
A method for screening for a compound that alleviates anxiety, comprising
- (a) administering a compound to an animal having anxiety induced by selective illumination of an opsin expressed in the glutamatergic pyramidal neurons of the basolateral amygdala (BLA), wherein the animal comprises a light-responsive opsin expressed in the glutamatergic pyramidal neurons of the BLA, wherein the opsin induces hyperpolarization when stimulated by light;
- and
- (b) determining the anxiety level of the animal, wherein a reduction of the anxiety level indicates that the compound is a candidate agent for treating anxiety.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.