DREADD users blog

Now on-line at Neuron . The constructs will be available soon from ADDGENE   without MTA. Viruses will be available next week (May 3) from UNC . This DREADD is activated by salvinorin B which may be purchased from Cayman  or from S cott Wyer at Apple Pharms at a great discount.

Interesting paper in Cell Reports on this topic.

Astrocytes Control Food Intake by Inhibiting AGRP Neuron Activity via Adenosine A 1  Receptors

Here is a paper just published which provides for an open-source resource for screening the druggable human GPCR-ome for off-target actions of chemogenetic chemical actuators.  The cDNAs will soon be available from ADDGENE and are available until then from the Roth lab.

A cool paper using this technology to deconstruct Neuronal ensembles sufficient for recovery sleep and the sedative actions of α 2  adrenergic agonists

Nice paper in PNAS by Caron's lab.

I get this question a lot and certainly there are a number of distinctions one can make with regard to these two technologies (Table 1). TABLE 1. COMPARISON OF CHEMO- AND OPTOGENETIC PLATFORMS IDEAL CRITERIA OPTOGENETIC CHEMOGENETIC Non-invasive No: Inherently invasive Yes: chemical actuators may be administered via drinking water Does not require specialized equipment No: Multi-channel programmable light source optic fibers, implantable light source. Yes:   routine laboratory equipment; chemical actuators commercially available Capable of multiplexing Yes: remarkable spectral diversity Yes : at least theoretically Neuronal subdomain-specific modulation Yes/ No: via excitation of opsins in axonal fibers; back-propagating action potentials reported. Yes : via local injections and subdomain specific targeti...