Matera, CarloCalvé Pérez, Pablo, 1993-Casadó-Anguera, VerònicaSortino, RosalbaGomila, Alexandre M.J.Moreno, EstefaníaGener, ThomasDelgado-Sallent, CristinaNebot Forcada, PauCostazza, DavideConde-Berriozabal, SaraMasana, MercèHernando, JordiCasadó, VicentPuig Velasco, María VictoriaGorostiza, Pau2023-01-312023-01-312022Matera C, Calvé P, Casadó-Anguera V, Sortino R, Gomila AMJ, Moreno E, Gener T, Delgado-Sallent C, Nebot P, Costazza D, Conde-Berriozabal S, Masana M, Hernando J, Casadó V, Puig MV, Gorostiza P. Reversible photocontrol of dopaminergic transmission in wild-type animals. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 4;23(17):10114. DOI: 10.3390/ijms2317101141422-0067http://hdl.handle.net/10230/55492Understanding the dopaminergic system is a priority in neurobiology and neuropharmacology. Dopamine receptors are involved in the modulation of fundamental physiological functions, and dysregulation of dopaminergic transmission is associated with major neurological disorders. However, the available tools to dissect the endogenous dopaminergic circuits have limited specificity, reversibility, resolution, or require genetic manipulation. Here, we introduce azodopa, a novel photoswitchable ligand that enables reversible spatiotemporal control of dopaminergic transmission. We demonstrate that azodopa activates D1-like receptors in vitro in a light-dependent manner. Moreover, it enables reversibly photocontrolling zebrafish motility on a timescale of seconds and allows separating the retinal component of dopaminergic neurotransmission. Azodopa increases the overall neural activity in the cortex of anesthetized mice and displays illumination-dependent activity in individual cells. Azodopa is the first photoswitchable dopamine agonist with demonstrated efficacy in wild-type animals and opens the way to remotely controlling dopaminergic neurotransmission for fundamental and therapeutic purposes.application/pdfeng© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms231710114GPCRAzobenzeneBehaviorBrainwaveDopamineIn vivo electrophysiologyOptogeneticsOptopharmacologyPhotochromismPhotopharmacologyPhotoswitchZebrafishinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess