Rabies virus modified to study brain connections
Oleg Lischuk, N+1 based on Medical Xpress: Neuroscientists develop new tools to safely trace brain circuitsResearchers from the USA and the UK have improved one of the methods of studying the connections between neurons.
To do this, they genetically modified the rabies virus, according to a publication in the journal Neuron (Reardon et al., Rabies Virus CVS-N2c ΔG Strain Enhances Retrograde Synaptic Transfer and Neuronal Viability).
The vaccine strain of the rabies virus SAD-B19 with deletion of the glycoprotein responsible for virulence is actively used for brain research. It specifically penetrates the nervous system and allows you to map individual synaptic connections of given neurons – in 2007, Salk University researchers developed a method for external monitoring of the spread of the virus. However, the use of this virus is limited by its high neurotoxicity – the cells affected by it die within a few days, which does not allow building a detailed map of neuronal connections.
An international research team made changes to the genome of the SAD-B19 ΔG virus, which reduced its aggressiveness. The resulting strain, named CVS-N2c ΔG, was provided with a gene expressing a fluorescent marker and tested on the central nervous system of laboratory mice.
Image of the network of neurons of the lateral vestibular nucleus,
obtained with the help of a new strain of virus
Photograph: Andrew Murray
It turned out that it passes retrograde through synapses better than SAD-B19ΔG, marking neuronal connections, and is significantly less neurotoxic. Brain cells infected with the new strain remained viable for at least a month.
One of the authors of the work, a researcher at Columbia University in New York, Andrew Murray, expressed hope that using the resulting strain, it will be possible to create a viral vector based on it for gene therapy.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
25.01.2015