An improved inverse-type Ca2+ indicator can detect putative neuronal inhibition in Caenorhabditis elegans by increasing signal intensity upon Ca2+ decrease

PLoS One. 2018 Apr 25;13(4):e0194707. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194707. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Sensory processing is regulated by the coordinated excitation and inhibition of neurons in neuronal circuits. The analysis of neuronal activities has greatly benefited from the recent development of genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators (GECIs). These molecules change their fluorescence intensities or colours in response to changing levels of Ca2+ and can, therefore, be used to sensitively monitor intracellular Ca2+ concentration, which enables the detection of neuronal excitation, including action potentials. These GECIs were developed to monitor increases in Ca2+ concentration; therefore, neuronal inhibition cannot be sensitively detected by these GECIs. To overcome this difficulty, we hypothesised that an inverse-type of GECI, whose fluorescence intensity increases as Ca2+ levels decrease, could sensitively monitor reducing intracellular Ca2+ concentrations. We, therefore, developed a Ca2+ indicator named inverse-pericam 2.0 (IP2.0) whose fluorescent intensity decreases 25-fold upon Ca2+ binding in vitro. Using IP2.0, we successfully detected putative neuronal inhibition by monitoring the decrease in intracellular Ca2+ concentration in AWCON and ASEL neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans. Therefore, IP2.0 is a useful tool for studying neuronal inhibition and for the detailed analysis of neuronal activities in vivo.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism*
  • Calcium / metabolism*
  • Calcium Signaling*
  • Gene Expression
  • Genes, Reporter
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Molecular Imaging
  • Neurons / metabolism*

Substances

  • Calcium

Associated data

  • figshare/5976067.v1
  • figshare/5976610.v1
  • figshare/5976619.v1
  • figshare/5976634.v1
  • figshare/5976643.v1

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (https://www.jsps.go.jp/) 25115009 to T.I., 26560461 to S.H.-K., and 2311500 to T.Nagai, the Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology JPMJCR12W1 to T.I and JPMJCR15N3 to T.Nagai, and the Cooperative Research Program 2011B01 to T.I. for all experiments. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.