Bregestovski, PiotrMaleeva, GalynaGorostiza Langa, Pablo Ignacio2020-06-012020-06-012017-08-310007-1188https://hdl.handle.net/2445/163519The control of ligand-gated receptors with light using photochromic compounds has evolved from the first handcrafted examples to accurate, engineered receptors, whose development is supported by rational design, high-resolution protein structures, comparative pharmacology and molecular biology manipulations. Photoswitchable regulators have been designed and characterized for a large number of ligand-gated receptors in the mammalian nervous system, including nicotinic acetylcholine, glutamate and GABA receptors. They provide a well-equipped toolbox to investigate synaptic and neuronal circuits in all-optical experiments. This focused review discusses the design and properties of these photoswitches, their applications and shortcomings and future perspectives in the field.11 p.application/pdfeng(c) The British Pharmacological Society, 2017Biologia molecularReceptors neuralsMolecular biologyNeural receptorinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess28859250