Nanomaterial mediated optogenetics: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Optogenetics is a promising neuronal modulation strategy in neuroscience, which enables real-time neuromodulation in free-moving animals with high spatiotemporal control. However, it still suffers from several disadvantages, including low penetration of excitation light and the invasiveness of the insertion of the light delivery system. The incorporation of nanomaterials with different properties into optogenetics may bring new opportunities to solve the problems encountered in optogenetics, from the delivery/expression of the optogene to the stimulation/inhibition and follow-up sensing of neural activity. The challenges of nanomaterial-mediated optogenetics are also discussed. This review elaborates on the feasibility of incorporating nanomaterials into optogenetics and analyzes the benefits of nanomaterial-mediated optogenetics. © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.