Table 1.
Transgenic mouse lines expressing optical activators or silencers
| Name | Method of generation |
Promoter used | Cell type examined | Light power required to evoke spiking |
Peak photocurrent | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thy1-ChR2-EYFP (line 18) | Conventional transgenic | Thy1.2 | Cortical pyramidal neurons | 0.2 mW/mm2 | 500–600 pA under ~10 mW/mm2 light | (Wang et al., 2007) |
| MOB mitral cells | Unknown | ~200 pA | (Arenkiel et al., 2007) | |||
| Omp-ChR2-EYFP (line ORC-M) | Conventional transgenic | Omp | MOB mitral cells (postsynaptic to the ChR2-expressing OSNs) | <2 mW/mm2 to activate postsynaptic cells | Unknown | (Dhawale et al., 2010) |
| Vglut2-ChR2-YFP | BAC transgenic | Vglut2 | Spinal cord Vglut2-positive neurons | Unable to evoke spiking (35 mW/mm2 light only induces depolarization) | Unknown | (Hagglund et al., 2010) |
| Chat-ChR2-EYFP | BAC transgenic | Chat | MHb CHAT+ neurons | 20 mW/mm2 | ~500 pA under 20 mW/mm2 light | (Ren et al., 2011) |
| Mrgprd-ChR2-Venus | Knock-in | Mrgprd | DRG Mrgprd+ neurons | Unknown | Unknown | (Wang and Zylka, 2009) |
| BTR (bi-directional tetO promoter driven ChR2-mCherry on one side and HaloR-EGFP on the other side) (line BTR6) | Conventional transgenic, line BTR6 crossed to aCaMKII-tTA | tetO | Dorsal striatal medium spiny neurons | Unknown | ~350 pA for ChR2 (HaloR aggregated, not functional) | (Chuhma et al., 2011) |
| Thy1-NpHR-YFP | Conventional transgenic | Thy1.2 | Hippocampal or cortical pyramidal neurons (NpHR-YFP formed bright intracellular blebs) | 186 mW/mm2 to suppress spiking completely | ~20 pA under 23 mW/mm2 light ~−5 mV under 23 mW/mm2 light |
(Zhao et al., 2008) |
| Orexin-Halo-GFP | Conventional transgenic | Human prepro-orexin promoter | Hypothalamic orexin neurons | 4 mW light through objective lens to suppress spiking | ~6 pA under 4 mW light ~−11 mV under 4 mW light |
(Tsunematsu et al., 2011) |
| R26::ChR2(H134R)-EGFP | Knock-in to the Rosa26 locus | CAG promoter (with floxed-Neo-stop cassette) | Cortical interneurons | 2 mW laser light (20 ms duration) | ~190 pA under 2 mW, 20 ms laser light | (Katzel et al., 2011) |
| Ai27 (ChR2H134R-tdTomato) | Knock-in to the Rosa26 locus | CAG promoter (with floxed-stop cassette and WPRE) | Cortical pyramidal neurons | (Madisen et al., submitted) | ||
| Ai32 (ChR2H134R-EYFP) | Knock-in to the Rosa26 locus | CAG promoter (with floxed-stop cassette and WPRE) | Cortical pyramidal neurons | (Madisen et al., submitted) | ||
| Ai35 (Arch-EGFP-ER2) | Knock-in to the Rosa26 locus | CAG promoter (with floxed-stop cassette and WPRE) | Cortical pyramidal neurons | (Madisen et al., submitted) | ||
| Ai39 (eNpHR3.0-EYFP) | Knock-in to the Rosa26 locus | CAG promoter (with floxed-stop cassette and WPRE) | Cortical pyramidal neurons | (Madisen et al., submitted) |