The complexity of the brain, in which different neuronal cell types are 
interspersed and complexly interconnected, has posed a major obstacle in 
identifying pathophysiological mechanisms underlying prevalent neurological 
disorders. This is largely based in the inability of classical experimental 
approaches to target defined neural populations at sufficient temporal and 
spatial resolution. As a consequence, effective clinical therapies for prevalent 
neurological disorders are largely lacking. Recently developed optogenetic 
probes are genetically expressed photosensitive ion channels and pumps that in 
principal overcome these limitations. Optogenetic probes allow millisecond 
resolution functional control over selected optogenetically transduced neuronal 
populations targeted based on promoter activity. This optical cell control 
scheme has already been applied to answer fundamental questions pertaining to 
neurological disorders by allowing researchers to experimentally intercept, or 
induce, pathophysiological neuronal signaling activity in a highly controlled 
manner. Offering high temporal resolution control over neural activity at high 
cellular specificity, optogenetic tools constitute a game changer in research 
aiming at understanding pathophysiological signaling mechanisms in neurological 
disorders and in developing therapeutic strategies to correct these. In this 
regard, recent experimental work has provided new insights in underlying 
mechanisms, as well as preliminary proof-of-principle for optogenetic therapies, 
of several neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and 
progressive blindness. This review synthesizes experimental work where 
optogenetic tools have been applied to explore pathologic neural network 
activity in models of neurological disorders.