This volume provides current methods to analyze the properties of designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) in vitro and to measure the biological responses of DREADD activation in different neuronal populations in vivo. Chapters focus on the utility of DREADD technology to selectively stimulate or inhibit neuronal activity in selected brain areas of transgenic mice. In addition, the successful use of DREADD expression in rats and Drosophila is described. Together, the DREADD technology represents a non-invasive, chemical-genetic tool for investigating neuronal signaling and the resulting behavioural responses in vivo. Written in the popular Neuromethods series style, chapters include the kind of detail and key advice from the specialists needed to get successful results in your own laboratory. Concise and easy-to-use, Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

Defining the Functional Equivalence of Wild Type and Chemically Engineered G Protein-Coupled Receptors.- Design and Analysis of an Arrestin-biased DREADD.- Regulation of Gene Transcription Following Stimulation of Gaq-coupled Designer Receptors.- Chemogenetic Deconstruction of Feeding Circuits.- Dissecting Neuronal Circuits Involved in Olfactory Mediated Behaviors.- The use of DREADDs (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Receptors) in Transgenic Mouse Behavioral Models.- Pharmacogenetic Dissection of Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Regulation of Sleep/Wakefulness using DREADDs.- DREADD'ed addiction: Using Designer Receptors to Delineate Neural Circuits Underlying Drug-Seeking Behaviors.- DREADDs in Drosophila melanogaster.