Probing Brain Chemistry - Monitoring of Chemical Signal Molecules Release from Single-Cell, Single-Vesicle, Synaptic Cleft and Morphological Analysis with Nanoelectrochemistry

The monitoring of chemical signal molecules release from single cells with spatial and temporal resolution is a very important fundamental research in probing brain chemistry. In recent years, we have investigated systematically chemical signal molecules release from single cells with the microelectrode and developed the monitoring of chemical signal molecules release from single vesicles, single synapses and synaptic clefts with spatial resolution using the nanoelectrode. We have initiated the quantitative analysis to detect morphological changes of single cells before and after release using scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). We first researched the microfluidic and array-electrode integrated microsystem and applied it to the perfusion culture and detection of neurotransmitter release from cells. In this paper, the above researches and the frontier researches of this area in the world are reviewed. The new viewpoints of the future development in this research area are suggested. This review includes real time monitoring of dopamine release from single-cell using the microelectrode, monitoring of dopamine release from single vesicle with spatial and temporal resolution using the nanoelectrode, monitoring and manipulation of quantal release from single cells on a microfluidic device, morphological changes of single cells before and after NO release using the scanning electrochemical microscopy, and future analytical challenges; (1) research of decreasing the size of the nanoelectrode, (2) development of the integrated microfluidic device, (3) coupling between amperometry and other analytical techniques such as SECM, AFM, STM, TEM and (4) combination of Fluorescence Microscopy and Amperometry.