SCIENCE: chemogenetics and neuronal ablation to deconstruct itch; plus a new hM4Di mouse

From the Goulding lab:

Mice in which dorsal NPY::Cre-derived neurons are selectively ablated or silenced develop mechanical itch without an increase in sensitivity to chemical itch or pain. This chronic itch state is histamine-independent and is transmitted independently of neurons that express the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor. Thus, our studies reveal a dedicated spinal cord inhibitory pathway that gates the transmission of mechanical itch.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CNO in drinking water

We frequently get requests regarding protocols for putting CNO in the drinking water for long-term studies. Here is our protocol: 1. Dissolve the CNO in a small volume of DMSO 2. Diluted the dissolved CNO in drinking water (e.g., 5mg/200ml) 3. Give mice with CNO drinking water  and protect from light using foil-wrapped bottles 4. The mice will receive 5mg/kg/day CNO (assume that mice weight 30g and consume 6ml water per day) 5. Prepare fresh daily. 6. A small amount of saccharine in the drinking water will mask the slightly bitter taste of CNO
Read more

How best to dissolve CNO ...it depends on what it is soluble in (and that depends on the particular polymorph)

I recently received the following question: " My question is with regard to the use of CNO in drinking water (in mouse studies). Your recipe calls for the addition of a small amount of DMSO to dissolve CNO at a concentration of 5 mg in 200 mL. As we and others routinely dissolve CNO in 0.9% saline (no DMSO) at concentrations up to four times this amount, I am curious whether the addition of DMSO to CNO solutions for H2O drinking is critical, or whether the properties of CNO permit it's direct dissolution in H2O at concentrations from 5-20 mg per 200 mL. There appears to be no difficulty dissolving such concentrations in H2O in my hands, but I would prefer to hear your perspective. Is there a published reference for the solubility profile of CNO in H2O or 0.9% saline?" It basically depends upon the source of the CNO.  CNO via the NIH RAID program (which is what we use) is not readily soluble in H20 while commercial CNO is.  Although we've verified that both source
Read more