Development of Caged Neurotransmitters for Two-Photon Photolysis

Mcp Hahnemann University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

The cell was discovered in the C17th by the Dutch scientist van Leeuwenhoek when he invented the microscope. The use of lenses and microscopes to make scientific observations has had a profound effect on man's history and his understanding. The discoveries of Galileo, Newton and Einstein are the best examples of this. The 1990s were declared the decade of the brain and by coincidence, in 1990 a new microscope was invented which allowed scientists to see far deeper and more clearly into (brain) tissue than ever before. This grant is concerned with the development of new chemical compounds that will exploit the unique advantages of this microscope for the very first time. Specifically, we will use organic chemistry to make the neurotransmitters that are biologically inert until they are activated by light. These molecules can be used to release the neurotransmitter deep inside cells and so stimulate a single synapse in the brain in a reproducible and precisely controlled way. The synapse is the basic unit of all the electrical circuits in the brain. The ability to use these chemicals to stimulate single synapses in living brains (from mammals such as rats or mice) will allow us to start to develop realistic theories of the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms which underlie neuronal network formation, learning and memory.