An optogenetic probe for the specific manipulation of newly potentiated dendritic spines

We created a pair of constructs aimed at expressing Channelrhodopsin (ChR) selectively at potentiated synapses. The constructs allow activity-dependent expression of the high-performance ChR isoform ChR-XXM in an activity-dependent fashion at dendritic spines. Moreover, the temporal window for the expression of ChR-XXM can be regulated via a tetON system. The constructs were validated using patch-clamp recordings and demonstrate the possibility to control neuronal firing by specifically acting on the subset of synapses recruited by structural plasticity. Once inserted in AAV vectors, these constructs will be distributed and reused by the scientific community for studies on the physiopathology of learning and memory.