Now US scientists devise way to ‘switch off’ brain!

After almost a decade of research, scientists have developed a technology to shut down the neurons as well as activate them. According to a news report published in The Independent newspaper, scientists have developed an ‘off-switch’ for the brain to effectively shut down neural activity using light pulses. Stanford scientist Karl Deisseroth, in 2005 discovered how to switch individual brain cells on and off by using light in a technique he dubbed ‘optogenetics’.

This technique was used by research teams around the world to study brain cells, heart cells, stem cells and others regulated by electrical signals. However, light-sensitive proteins were efficient at switching cells on but proved less effective at turning them off. Deisseroth’s team has now re-engineered its light-sensitive proteins to switch cells much more adequately than before.

The new technology will help scientists in understanding brain circuits in a more effective manner. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the study, said this improved ‘off’ switch will help researchers to better understand the brain circuits involved in behavior, thinking and emotion.

In the upper left opsin, the red colour shows negative charges spanning the opsin that facilitated the flow of positive (stimulatory) ions through the channel into neurons. In the newly engineered channels (lower right), those negative charges have been changed to positive (blue), allowing the negatively charged inhibitory chloride ions to flow through.