Visualising the spatial range of neuropeptide action

Our ability to change our behaviour depending on our mood and experiences is due to a type of communication within the brain termed neuromodulation. Neuromodulators are secreted, diffusible molecules that can act at a distance, potentially altering many different targets in the brain. However, neuromodulators regulate behaviour in a very specific manner, indicating that different targets may be reached in different contexts. How far neuromodulators can travel within the brain and how their range of action is regulated is not understood. Our aim is to generate a system to visualise the neurons that are activated upon release of a neuromodulator and use this system to identify regulators of diffusion. We will employ an animal whose nervous system uses the same neuromodulators as our brain but whose neurons are few and easy to visualise and its genome can be probed in an unbiased manner to identify molecules that regulate target reach.