Acquisition of Equipment for Chemical Analysis at Single Synapses in Culture

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.