The authors thoroughly validated and characterized several recently-developed viral vectors designed to restrict transgene expression to GABAergic cells or their parvalbumin (PV) subtype in the primary visual cortex (V1) of the marmoset, a non-human primate model.
They found that the AAV-h56D virus induces transgene expression in GABAergic cells with up to 91-94% specificity and 80% efficiency, depending on viral serotype and cortical layer. The AAV-PHP.eB-S5E2 virus induces transgene expression in PV cells across all cortical layers with up to 98% specificity and 86-90% efficiency.
The authors compared the laminar distribution of GABA+ and PV+ cells in marmoset V1 with previous findings in mouse V1, revealing some species differences. They also observed that the viral injections caused a reduction in GABA and PV immunoreactivity at the injection sites, suggesting the specificity of the viruses may be even higher than measured.
These viral vectors represent promising tools for studying the function and connectivity of GABAergic and PV inhibitory neuron subtypes in the primate cortex, which is critical for understanding cortical function and dysfunction in the model system closest to humans.
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by Federer,F., ... at www.biorxiv.org 03-11-2024
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.07.583998v1Deeper Inquiries