Researchers at the Carney Institute for Brain Science are taking creative approaches with a super-resolution microscope to advance their neuroscience investigations in different directions.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - The ability to peer inside the brain is crucial to advancing brain research, which means microscopes are essential tools of the field. Scientists at the Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University use the same powerful microscope in creative and often complementary ways to make breakthrough discoveries about addiction, memory, reward, brain development and brain function.
Super-resolution microscopes are state-of-the-art technologies indispensable in many neuroscience laboratories. These microscopes - like the Nikon SoRa CSU-WI at the Carney Institute, or SoRa for short - encompass multiple techniques that achieve higher optical resolution compared to traditional light microscopy, allowing scientists to clearly distinguish different structures not just within the brain, but within neurons.
While its effective use requires training, the SoRa - which was acquired with funding from the institute's Center for the Neurobiology of Cells and Circuits - is used by more Carney Institute labs than any other instrument of its kind. Scientists at the institute are pursuing a variety of projects that depend on the SoRa, pushing the limits of how the microscope can be used to answer research questions.
As science and technology evolve, so does the need for even more advanced microscopy tools and techniques. Scientists in three Carney Institute laboratories offered a glimpse at how they are using the microscopy tool of the moment to advance their findings.
Mapping the brain circuits involved in addiction
Researchers in the laboratory of Karla Kaun, an associate professor of neuroscience, are focused on understanding the genetic, neural and molecular mechanisms of memory, reward and addiction.
"What we're really interested in studying is how addictive substances interfere with our memory circuits," Kaun said. "Because what these substances do is sneakily tap into these circuits to make you remember how the addictive substance felt, which can lead to cravings. One way to look at it is that we're trying to understand the molecular basis of cravings."
Kaun and her team study these processes in the brains of fruit flies, which are surprisingly similar to those of humans. The researchers have homed in on dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in reward as well as memory. They're investigating how drugs like alcohol, nicotine or methamphetamine affect gene and protein expression in dopamine circuits, including receptors for dopamine.
"The SoRa microscope provides the high resolution we need to visualize a receptor in a single neuron in 3D," Kaun said. "And we can do it quickly so that we can look at a number of fly brains to see how different drugs affect just this particular receptor in just this neuron. We're using these tools to study changes in the dopamine receptors to tease apart their roles in the making of a drug craving."
