Acquisition of Equipment for Chemical Analysis at Single Synapses in Culture

这个项目是在一般地区的分析和表面 化学和生物电化学的子领域。 这个奖项 将提供资金购买一个视频增强 尤因教授可以用显微镜 生物电化学创新实验 具体地说， 这位年轻的研究员将使用视频增强显微镜 用光学方法观察培养的 神经元进行第一次体内测量， 神经递质从单个突触终扣释放。 成功 在这些实验中， 能够在相同的细胞水平上进行测量， 生物科学家认为。 这一成就将 代表了生物电化学的重要里程碑， 这位研究者的研究进展 在微电极制造和神经元细胞培养中 实验 能够在完全不超过 突触间隙将使识别的儿茶酚胺能 通过伏安法和细胞类型来测量神经递质。 此外，这种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。 本研究 可以导致识别和表征 培养的神经元，以及新的基本见解 神经元通讯

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.