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The optogenetic technique involves injecting an adenovirus that codes for fluorescent proteins into anatomical areas that can be stimulated intracerebrally by fiber-optic light. The technique can be used to demonstrate how specific neurons respond to experimental stimulation. Two research groups recently used optogenetics in animals to explore the circuitry of behaviors similar to those found in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Ahmari et al. fiber-optically stimulated the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit in mice to produce repetitive compulsive-like behaviors. Stimulation needed to be repeated over days to increase grooming behavior. The increased grooming correlated with increases in postsynaptic ventromedial striatum firing and…