Acquisition of Equipment for Chemical Analysis at Single Synapses in Culture

该项目属于分析和表面化学的一般领域，以及生物电化学的子领域。这笔奖金将用于购买视频增强显微镜，尤因教授可以使用该显微镜进行一些真正具有创新性的生物电化学实验。具体地说，这位年轻的研究人员将使用视频增强显微镜对培养的神经元之间的突触连接进行光学可视化，以执行第一次体内测量单个突触的神经递质释放。这些实验的成功将证明电化学家在生物科学家认为的相同细胞水平上进行测量的能力。这一成就将代表着生物电化学的一个重要里程碑，这位研究人员在微电极制造和神经元细胞培养实验方面的进展促进了这一可能性。完全在突触间隙内进行分析伏安法的能力将使通过伏安法识别儿茶酚胺能神经递质成为可能，因此也可以通过细胞类型进行识别。此外，这一新的实验能力将允许神经元刺激类型和强度与单个神经元释放的神经递质相关联。这项研究可能导致鉴定和表征培养的神经元的程序，以及对神经元通讯的新的基本见解。

This project is in the general area of analytical and surface chemistry and in the subfield of bioelectrochemistry. This award will provide funds for the purchase of a video enhanced microscope with which Professor Ewing can perform some truly innovative experiments in bioelectrochemistry. Specifically, this young investigator will employ the video enhanced microscope to optically visualize synaptic junctions between cultured neurons to perform the first in vivo measurement of neurotransmitter release from a single synaptic bouton. Success in these experiments would demonstrate the electrochemist's ability to make measurements at the same cellular level that the bioscientist thinks in terms of. This achievement would represent an important milestone in bioelectrochemistry and its possibility has been facilitated by this investigator's advances in microelectrode fabrication and neuronal cell culture experiments. The ability to perform analytical voltammetry wholly within synaptic gaps will enable the identification of catecholaminergic neurotransmitters by voltammetry and, therefore, by cell type. Additionally, this new experimental capability will permit correlation of neuronal stimulation type and strength with neurotransmitter release from a single neuron. This research could lead to procedures for identifying and characterizing cultured neurons as well as new fundamental insights into neuronal communication.