Genetic Mouse Models for Optogenetic Neuroscience

All procedures involving animals were approved by and performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Kantonales Veterinäramt Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. Mice were maintained on 12-hour light/dark cycle with water and food available ad libitum. Male and female mice were used, unless indicated otherwise. Age of the animals is indicated in individual experiments, in general mice were used at P25-30 for biochemical and immunohistochemical analysis and at 6-8 weeks for electrophysiological recordings.
The following mice strains were used in this study: LoxP-ChR2 (JAX: 024109; Madisen et al., 2012 (link)), PV-Cre (JAX: 017320; Hippenmeyer et al., 2005 (link)) and SST-Cre (JAX: 013044; Taniguchi et al., 2011 (link)) mice were obtained from Jackson Laboratories, RjOrl:Swiss mice (CD-1) were from Janvier Labs, for generation of Nrxn3^ΔEx24 knock-out and Nrxn3 AS5^HA knock-in mice see STAR Methods details. All mouse lines were maintained on a C57BL6/J strain background.
In general, het/het breeding schemes were used for Nrxn3^ΔEx24 knock-out and Nrxn3 AS5^HA knock-in mice. For Cre mediated ChR2 expression, homozygous PV- or SST-Cre animals (heterozygous for Nrxn3^ΔEx24) were mated with homozygous LoxP-ChR2 animals (heterozygous for Nrxn3^ΔEx24), and experiments were performed with 6-8 week old mice heterozygous for PV- and SST-Cre or LoxP-ChR2.