U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Dopamine Release and Elimination

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

9910974 Sulzer This three-year award supports U.S.-France collaborative research in neuroscience between the research groups of David Sulzer at Columbia University and Francois Gonon at the University of Bordeaux. The project addresses the development and testing of new techniques to measure chemical neurotransmitters. Brain function relies on release of chemical neurotransmitters. Classical techniques to measure neurotransmission, such as liquid chromatography and postsynaptic recording, are inadequate for studying their real-time release of neurotransmitters. Recent work by the U.S. and French groups employs carbon fiber microelectrodes to record transmitter release in the brain at the usec level. This approach is particularly well adapted for the neurotransmitter dopamine. The study will focus on the release of dopamine in the striatum. The U.S. investigator brings to this collaboration methodology for recording neurotransmitter release at the quantal level in brain neurons. This is complemented by the French's investigator's work on real-time detection of neurotransmitter release using carbon fiber electrodes, a technique which he developed. Their collaboration will advance understanding on how neurotransmitter release is regulated in the brain and on brain function in general. Experimental results may ultimately provide the technology to measure transmitter release.