Optogenetic investigation of neural circuits underlying brain disease in animal models

Optogenetics enables the precise and targeted manipulation of the activity of specific neurons and is a powerful tool for the dissection of neural circuits. Tye and Deisseroth describe the latest refinements in optogenetic technology and show how this approach is being used to investigate the circuits involved in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Optogenetic tools have provided a new way to establish causal relationships between brain activity and behaviour in health and disease. Although no animal model captures human disease precisely, behaviours that recapitulate disease symptoms may be elicited and modulated by optogenetic methods, including behaviours that are relevant to anxiety, fear, depression, addiction, autism and parkinsonism. The rapid proliferation of optogenetic reagents together with the swift advancement of strategies for implementation has created new opportunities for causal and precise dissection of the circuits underlying brain diseases in animal models.