ArcLight Voltage Sensor[fruitful_sep]

A  genetically-encoded, fluorescent voltage sensing protein in a BacMam viral delivery system is a noninvasive, easy-to-use tool for studying the electrical activity of live neurons.  To learn more about the development of voltage sensors, take some time to visit Vincent Pieribone‘s wonderful pages dedicated to fluorogenic voltage sensors.

The field of genetically encoded voltage indicators has long been plagued by slow kinetics and small changes in fluorescence.  In a significant advancement for this field, Vincent Pieribone and his colleagues at Yale University School of Medicine and The John B. Pierce Laboratory, Inc. created ArcLight and published it in a Cell paper.

ArcLight was created from Ciona intestinalis voltage sensor and the fluorescent protein, super ecliptic pHluorin.  Its change in fluorescence intensity is an incredible five times greater than previously reported probes, 35% in response to a 100 mV depolarization, and largely possible due to a single point mutation in the fluorescent protein.

When ArcLight was expressed in cultured mouse hippocampal neurons and Drosophilia neurons (Cao 2013), single action potentials and subthreshold events could be detected.  It was also largely membrane localized in neuronal dendrites.

Montana Molecular packages ArcLight in Baculovirus for distribution.