AUTHOR=Fino Elodie , Araya Roberto , Peterka Darcy S., Salierno Marcelo , Etchenique Roberto , Yuste Rafael TITLE=RuBi-Glutamate: Two-photon and visible-light photoactivation of neurons and dendritic spines JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neural Circuits VOLUME=3 YEAR=2009 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neural-circuits/articles/10.3389/neuro.04.002.2009 DOI=10.3389/neuro.04.002.2009 ISSN=1662-5110 ABSTRACT=

We describe neurobiological applications of RuBi-Glutamate, a novel caged-glutamate compound based on ruthenium photochemistry. RuBi-Glutamate can be excited with visible wavelengths and releases glutamate after one- or two-photon excitation. It has high quantum efficiency and can be used at low concentrations, partly avoiding the blockade of GABAergic transmission present with other caged compounds. Two-photon uncaging of RuBi-Glutamate has a high spatial resolution and generates excitatory responses in individual dendritic spines with physiological kinetics. With laser beam multiplexing, two-photon RuBi-Glutamate uncaging can also be used to depolarize and fire pyramidal neurons with single-cell resolution. RuBi-Glutamate therefore enables the photoactivation of neuronal dendrites and circuits with visible or two-photon light sources, achieving single cell, or even single spine, precision.