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REVIEW article
Front. Neural Circuits
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fncir.2025.1516839
Optogenetics and Chemogenetics: Key Tools for modulating Neural Circuits in Rodent Models of Depression
Provisionally accepted- 1 College of Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 2 Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 3 Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong Province, China
- 4 Linyi Vocational College, Linyi, China
Optogenetics and chemogenetics are emerging neuromodulation techniques that have attracted significant attention in recent years. These techniques enable the precise control of specific neuronal types and neural circuits, allowing researchers to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying depression. The advancement in these techniques has significantly contributed to the understanding of the neural circuits involved in depression; when combined with other emerging technologies, they provide novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic tools for the clinical treatment of depression. Additionally, these techniques have provided theoretical support for the development of novel antidepressants. This review primarily focuses on the application of optogenetics and chemogenetics in several brain regions closely associated with depressive-like behaviors in rodent models, such as the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, dorsal raphe nucleus, and lateral habenula and discusses the potential and challenges of optogenetics and chemogenetics in future research. Furthermore, this review discusses the potential and challenges these techniques pose for future research and describes the current state of research on sonogenetics and odourgenetics developed based on optogenetics and chemogenetics. Specifically, this study aimed to provide reliable insights and directions for future research on the role of optogenetics and chemogenetics in the neural circuits of depressive rodent models.
Keywords: optogenetics, chemogenetics, Depression, neural circuits, rodent models of depression, Sonogenetics, odourgenetics
Received: 28 Oct 2024; Accepted: 11 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Li, Hu, Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Haijun Wang, College of Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.