Dopamine Imaging
A. Imaging dopamine in living brain slices
Apart from serotonin, the other important class of monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain is dopamine. Dopamine also is fluorescent, but it fluoresces further in the UV compared to serotonin. We employ a non-epifluorescent detection method developed by us earlier for imaging a rat brain section. We employ it to examine the substantia nigra region, which is the major location of the cell bodies of dopaminergic neurons. We have now obtained the first images of dopamine neurotransmitter vesicles in live neurons. We are now combining this technique with quasi-simultaneous FCS measurements, which may allow us to correlate the intracellular aggregation of alpha-synuclein with the dopamine packaging in the dopaminergic neurons, which many believe are the crucial steps of Parkinson’s disease.
Apart from serotonin, the other important class of monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain is dopamine. Dopamine also is fluorescent, but it fluoresces further in the UV compared to serotonin. We employ a non-epifluorescent detection method developed by us earlier for imaging a rat brain section. We employ it to examine the substantia nigra region, which is the major location of the cell bodies of dopaminergic neurons. We have now obtained the first images of dopamine neurotransmitter vesicles in live neurons. We are now combining this technique with quasi-simultaneous FCS measurements, which may allow us to correlate the intracellular aggregation of alpha-synuclein with the dopamine packaging in the dopaminergic neurons, which many believe are the crucial steps of Parkinson’s disease.