The long-term objective of our research is to develop microdevices for high-throughput measurement of quantal exocytosis from neurons and neuroendocrine cells. Patch-clamp electrophysiological and carbon-fiber electrochemical approaches represent the state-of-the-art for high time resolution and high information content assays of exocytosis but are slow and labor-intensive. Biochemical assays of secretion from cell populations have limited time resolution and can not resolve individual quantal fusion events. We will use microchip technology to develop devices that can assay quantal exocytosis from thousands of cells in a day in order to greatly accelerate the pace of basic neuroscience research. This approach will also enable, for the first time, rapid and high information content screening of drug candidates that affect exocytosis of neurotransmitter. For example, L-DOPA used to treat Parkinson's disease acts by increasing the quantal content of dopamine release. The approach will be interdisciplinary and will bring together investigators with expertise is biomedical, electrical and mechanical engineering, materials science, physics, electrochemistry, physiology and biophysics.
The specific aims are: 1) Develop approaches to automatically target individual cells to electrochemical microelectrodes on microfabricated devices. 2) Develop approaches to stimulate exocytosis from cells on microdevices including rapid microfluidic solution exchange, photolysis of caged Ca and electrical stimulation of action potentials. 3) Integrate new electrochemical electrode materials into microdevices to increase sensitivity and performance. 4) Develop electronic instrumentation to allow simultaneous recording of many channels of electrochemical or electrophysiological data. The five-year goal of the project is to have actual devices on the market to serve the exocytosis research community that are at least an order of magnitude faster than current carbon-fiber approaches. Our first-year milestones for each aim are: 1) Position one or more cells at predetermined sites on a microchip. 2) Exchange extracellular solution in <100 ms on a microchip. 3) Characterize the electrochemical properties of a diamond-like carbon microelectrode. 4) Develop inexpensive modular circuitry for basic electrochemical measurements using off-the-shelf components that can be easily scaled for approximately 12 simultaneous channels.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01NS048826-05S1
Application #
7912068
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-MDCN-C (55))
Program Officer
Talley, Edmund M
Project Start
2004-09-01
Project End
2010-09-14
Budget Start
2009-09-15
Budget End
2010-09-14
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$167,759
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Missouri-Columbia
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
153890272
City
Columbia
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
65211
Gillis, Kevin D; Liu, Xin A; Marcantoni, Andrea et al. (2018) Electrochemical measurement of quantal exocytosis using microchips. Pflugers Arch 470:97-112
Yao, J; Liu, X A; Gillis, K D (2015) Two approaches for addressing electrochemical electrode arrays with reduced external connections. Anal Methods 7:5760-5766
Gao, Changlu; Sun, Xiuhua; Gillis, Kevin D (2013) Fabrication of two-layer poly(dimethyl siloxane) devices for hydrodynamic cell trapping and exocytosis measurement with integrated indium tin oxide microelectrodes arrays. Biomed Microdevices 15:445-51
Ghosh, Jaya; Liu, Xin; Gillis, Kevin D (2013) Electroporation followed by electrochemical measurement of quantal transmitter release from single cells using a patterned microelectrode. Lab Chip 13:2083-90
Kisler, Kassandra; Kim, Brian N; Liu, Xin et al. (2012) Transparent Electrode Materials for Simultaneous Amperometric Detection of Exocytosis and Fluorescence Microscopy. J Biomater Nanobiotechnol 3:243-253
Misler, Stanley; Gillis, Kevin D (2012) Modes of exocytosis and electrogenesis underlying canine biphasic insulin secretion. Front Biosci (Elite Ed) 4:669-76
Yao, Jia; Gillis, Kevin D (2012) Quantification of noise sources for amperometric measurement of quantal exocytosis using microelectrodes. Analyst 137:2674-81
Liu, Xin; Barizuddin, Syed; Shin, Wonchul et al. (2011) Microwell device for targeting single cells to electrochemical microelectrodes for high-throughput amperometric detection of quantal exocytosis. Anal Chem 83:2445-51
Yang, Sang Yoon; Kim, Brian N; Zakhidov, Alexander A et al. (2011) Detection of transmitter release from single living cells using conducting polymer microelectrodes. Adv Mater 23:H184-8
Barizuddin, Syed; Liu, Xin; Mathai, Joseph C et al. (2010) Automated targeting of cells to electrochemical electrodes using a surface chemistry approach for the measurement of quantal exocytosis. ACS Chem Neurosci 1:590-597

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