A red fluorescent sensor for intensity-and lifetime imaging of cAMP in living cells

chILI, a red fluorescent cAMP sensor with a single highly cAMP-specific binding site, reports spontaneous and evoked cAMP transients in CA1 hippocampal neurons of awake mice.

• Why it matters: cAMP spatiotemporal regulation is important for neuromodulation and plasticity, yet better tools are needed to monitor where and when cAMP changes occur.
• What they did: The authors engineered chILI from a truncated protozoan PKA regulatory subunit cAMP binding site and used AAV-mediated expression in mouse brain to enable intensity and fluorescence lifetime imaging.
• The result: In awake mice, chILI detects both spontaneous and evoked cAMP transients in CA1 neurons, supporting in vivo monitoring and providing additional lifetime-imaging options for cAMP studies.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.