Melander JB, Nayebi A, Jongbloets BC, Fortin DA, Qin M, Ganguli S, Mao T, Zhong H (2021). Cell Reports.

Here, we fluorescently visualize PSD-95 at endogenous levels in the mouse barrel cortex. Longitudinal in vivo imaging reveals that, while synaptic weights in both pyramidal and PV+ cells are log-normally distributed, synapses onto PV+ neurons are less heterogeneous and more stable. These results reveal that cell type-specific processes govern cortical synaptic strengths and dynamics.

Zhong H, Massengill CI, Muniak MA, Ma L, Qin M, Kaech Petrie S, Mao T. (2020). eLife.

Here, we describe a method called CRISPR-mediated insertion of exon (CRISPIE) that can precisely and reversibly label endogenous proteins using CRISPR/Cas9-based editing.

Xiong W-H, Qin M, Zhong H. (2020). PNAS.

Here, we report that the electrically neutral N-terminal fragment of the protein kinase A catalytic subunit (PKA-C), in which myristoylation is the only functional motif, is sufficient for membrane association. This myristoylation can associate a fraction of PKA-C molecules or fluorescent proteins (FPs) to the plasma membrane in neuronal dendrites.

Jongbloets BC, Ma L, Mao T, Zhong H. (2019) J. Vis. Exp. (148)

A procedure is presented to visualize protein kinase A activities in head-fixed, behaving mice. Two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy is used to visualize PKA activities in vivo during enforced locomotion.

Ma L, Jongbloets BC, Xiong WH, Melander JB, Qin M, Lameyer TJ, Harrison MF, Zemelman BV, Mao T*, Zhong H*. (2018). Neuron 99:665-679.e5.

Here, we developed a PKA sensor, tAKARα, which enables detection of physiologically relevant activity and interrogation of neuromodulation-induced PKA-signaling in awake animals.

Patriarchi T, Cho JR, Merten K, Howe MW, Marley A, Xiong WH, Folk RW, Broussard GJ, Liang R, Jang MJ, Zhong H, Dombeck D, von Zastrow M, Nimmerjahn A, Gradinaru V, Williams JT, Tian L. (2018). Science 360:eaat4422.

Patriarchi et al. developed fluorescent protein–based dopamine indicators to visualize spatial and temporal release of dopamine directly with high fidelity and resolution. In the cortex, two-photon imaging with these indicators was used to map dopamine activity at cellular resolution.

Tillo SE, Xiong WH, Takahashi M, Miao S, Andrade AL, Fortin DA, Yang G, Qin M, Smoody BF, Stork PJS, Zhong H. (2017). Cell Reports 19:617-629.

We report that elevation of cyclic AMP in neuronal dendrites causes a significant percentage of the PKA catalytic subunit (PKA-C) molecules to be released from the regulatory subunit (PKA-R). We propose that activation-dependent association of PKA-C renders the membrane a unique PKA-signaling compartment.

Hunnicutt BJ, Jongbloets BC, Birdsong WT, Gertz KJ, Zhong H, Mao T. (2016) eLife 5:e19103.

This study presents a comprehensive map of the excitatory inputs to the mouse striatum. The input patterns reveal boundaries between the known striatal domains The complete thalamo-cortico-striatal loop is also presented.

Zhong H. (2015). Synapse. 69:283-294.

Here, we discuss the principles of LBM, its current applications in neuroscience, and the challenges that must be met before its full potential is achieved. We also present the unpublished results of our own experiments to establish a sample preparation procedure for applying LBM to study brain tissue.

Fortin DA, Tillo SE, Yang G, Rah JC, Melander JB, Bai S, Soler-Cedeño O, Qin M, Zemelman BV, Guo C, Mao T*, Zhong H*. (2014). J. Neurosci. 34 (50) 16698-16712

Here, we describe a conditional mouse genetic strategy termed endogenous labeling via exon duplication (ENABLED), which can be used to fluorescently label endogenous proteins with near ideal properties in all neurons, a sparse subset of neurons, or specific neuronal subtypes.

Hunnicutt BJ, Long BR, Kusefoglu D, Gertz KJ, Zhong H*, Mao T*. (2014). Nat. Neurosci. 17:1276-1285.

We employed a systematic, high-throughput viral approach to visualize thalamocortical axons with high sensitivity. We then developed algorithms to directly compare injection and projection information across animals and constructed a comprehensive map of thalamocortical projections.