With these we should be able to answer the question of how exactly neuroplasticity works and make it repeatable on demand. But only if we destroy the existing
fucking failures of stroke associations and get RFPs written and funded with foundation grants. Stroke is so fucking easy to solve if you put your mind to it. I can do this and I'm stroke-addled.
https://www.rdmag.com/news/2017/11/nanosensors-demystify-brain-chemistry?
Fri, 11/03/2017 - 2:09pm
by AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing
Near-infrared
microscopy (top) enables imaging of single-walled carbon nanotube
sensors (bottom left) to image dopamine neurotransmission in brain
tissue (bottom right).
Nanosensors
are incredible information-gathering tools for myriad applications,
including molecular targets such as the brain. Neurotransmitter
molecules govern brain function through chemistry found deep within the
brain, so University of California, Berkeley researchers are developing
nanosensors to gain a better understanding of exactly how this all plays
out.
During the AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition, being
held Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 2017, in Tampa, Florida, Markita del Carpio Landry,
a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Abraham
Beyene, a doctoral candidate in the Landry lab, will describe their
design and use of near-infrared optical nanosensors to image the
neurotransmitter dopamine within the brain.
“Developing sensors for brain chemistry is an exciting area of
research that could transform how we diagnose diseases based on
imbalances in brain chemistry, such as depression and anxiety,” Landry
said.
These nanosensors are created by combining carbon nanotubes and
biomimetic synthetic polymers with the assistance of sound waves to
promote the recognition of a selected small-molecule target. The formed
sensors produce a fluorescent signal in the presence of their specified
neurotransmitter target. Landry and her team are then able to directly
quantify the neurotransmitter levels using the fluorescence intensity as
a function of time.
“These complexes form nanosensors that fluoresce only within the
presence of dopamine, a key neurotransmitter implicated in psychiatric
disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and
Alzheimer’s disease,” Landry said. “We then build microscopes to detect
the fluorescent response of the nanosensor so that we can image the
nanosensors in living brain tissue.”
The researchers are already using their sensors to explore how brain
chemistry reacts to antidepressants. “We’re seeing some interesting
results of how the antidepressant drug Merital affects the way the brain
handles dopamine-based neurotransmission,” Landry said. “These key
insights may help us to understand how antipsychotics and
antidepressants work, and their side effects as well.”
A simple method to assess brain chemistry is highly desirable for
both research and clinical applications. While diseases such as cancer
or diabetes are often diagnosed via methods such as blood tests that
provide quantitative measurements of imbalances in blood or tissue
chemistry, it’s impractical to take a “brain sample” to assess brain
chemistry.
“My lab’s research focuses on the very challenging task of imaging
brain chemistry with nanosensors that can report on neurotransmitter
concentrations from within the brain and transmit their signals through
brain tissue and the cranium,” Landry said.
Landry and her colleagues are now building a new microscope, a
“double infrared excitation-emission” form of fluorescence microscopy
for deep brain neurotransmitter imaging, to allow them to image dopamine
neurotransmission within the brains of awake and active animals.
“This will provide us with the capability to determine how
antidepressants are affecting brain chemistry and to validate their
effectiveness in a living animal model,” Landry said.
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