A major goal of neuroscience has been to understand the systems-level neural processes governing higher-order func tions, such as perception, cognition and emotion. Until recently, however, achievement of this goal has been limited by a lack of neuromodulatory tools capable of targeting distinct popula tions of neurons, based on either genetic identity or circuit con nectivity, in behaving animals with the temporal precision re quired for causality testing. Such a tool would finally enable direct linkage of distinct neural activity patterns to behaviour. Since its inception in 2005, 1 the field of opto genetics has been re sponsible for the rapid progress in our understanding of the in tricate neural circuit elements driving emotive behaviours rel evant to psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. By using light pulses to turn specific populations of neurons on and off in awake, freely moving animals, optogenetics has finally provided science with a tool that has the spatial and temporal resolution required to causally link neural activity patterns to behaviour. It is becoming increasingly recognized that many psychi atric disorders are better conceptualized as diseases of abnor mal brain wiring and aberrant neural activity. Although in the past biological psychiatry has focused on chemical imbal ance as a pathophysiological driving force, this same ap proach may also explain the current paucity of truly effective treatment options for many psychiatric illnesses. Innovation and novel approaches that capitalize on the latest techno logic advancements are required for substantial progress. In this regard, it is an exciting time to be in the field of psychiatry, as optogenetics is leading to groundbreaking progress in our understanding of neurocircuit function in health and disease. This progress forces us to refocus and reconceptualize our under standing of the neural underpinnings of psychiatric disease and helps to identify novel targets for mechanisticbased therapeutic discovery. For basic and clinical scientists alike, an appreciation and understanding of this technology is essential in helping the field move forward. This editorial
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Jul 30, 2013
Open Access
