Neuroscience JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Scalable Fluidic Injector Arrays for Viral Targeting of Intact 3-D Brain Circuits

Name: Scalable Fluidic Injector Arrays for Viral Targeting of Intact 3-D Brain Circuits
Uploaded: 2026-06-22
Duration: 13 min 36 s
Description: Our understanding of neural circuits--how they mediate the computations that subserve sensation, thought, emotion, and action, and how they are corrupted ...

DOI: 10.3791/1489-v

What you'll learn

✓ Fabricate customized fluidic injector arrays for multi-site brain delivery
✓ Assemble stereotaxic apparatus and viral injection system
✓ Deliver virally-encoded reagents to intact 3-D brain circuits in vivo

Protocol

Controlling and analyzing neural circuits in vivo would be facilitated by a technology for delivery of viruses and other reagents to desired 3-dimensional sets of brain regions. We demonstrate customized fluidic injector array fabrication, and delivery of virally-encoded optical sensitizers, enabling optical manipulation of complex brain circuits.

Difficulty

advanced

Total time

~2–3 hours per animal (including stereotaxic surgery and multi-site injection)

Model organism

Mouse (unspecified strain)

Biosafety

BSL-2

Steps

Understand viral circuit targeting overview

Review the motivation for multiplexed viral delivery to 3-D brain regions and optical sensitizer deployment for circuit manipulation.

▶ 01:03

Construct stereotaxic clamp apparatus

Assemble the mechanical clamp system that stabilizes the animal head during stereotaxic surgery.

▶ 02:16

Prepare Hamilton pump and stereotaxic frame

Configure the syringe pump and stereotaxic instrument, ensuring proper calibration and alignment.

▶ 04:08

Construct the customized injector array

Fabricate or assemble the multi-needle fluidic injector array according to targeted brain coordinate specifications.

▶ 05:13

Assemble complete injection system

Integrate the injector array with the stereotaxic frame, pump, and clamp into a unified apparatus.

▶ 07:25

Perform viral injection into brain regions

Execute multi-site stereotaxic injection of virally-encoded cargo using the assembled fluidic array system.

▶ 08:36

Evaluate viral transfection and circuit targeting

Assess successful viral delivery and expression of optical sensitizers in target brain circuits.

▶ 12:22

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