Microelectrode arrays reveal spatial variations in cell signaling

摘要

Nerve cells communicate with one another by releasing chemical messengers across cell-cell gaps called synapses. Electrochemical analysis has been particularly valuable in studying this communication process, called exocytosis, in which small quantities of these easily oxidized neurotransmitters are released from intracellular vesicles. But single microelectrodes miss spatial heterogeneity, which has emerged as an important factor in nerve cell communication, says Andrew Ewing of Pennsylvania State University and Goteborg University (Sweden).