Gamma-aminobutyric acid (""""""""GABA"""""""") is a main mammalian nervous system inhibitory neurotransmitter, playing important roles in neural function and dysfunction. Accurate real time measurement of GABA will greatly accelerate discoveries on the key role of GABA in motor disorders including Huntington's disease and Parkinson's, seizures, myoclonic discharges, and alcohol addiction. Current technology for extracellular measurement of GABA focuses on microdialysis of the cerebro-spinal fluid, followed by liquid chromatography combined with pre-/post column derivatization. Liquid chromatography-based measurements are not continuous, while microdialysis is an invasive procedure causing neuronal death and reactive gliosis with poor spatial-temporal resolution. INFRAMAT proposes to demonstrate feasibility of exploiting functionalized biomaterials to dramatically improve biosensor performance in high sensitivity GABA detection, via a """"""""competitive enzyme immunoassay"""""""" strategy, electrochemically measuring non-electroactive GABA neurotransmitters. The proposed technology will adopt IMC's wet chemical synthesis to produce antibody-linked nanoparticles, immobilize functionalized nanoparticles onto transducers to obtain high sensitivity biosensors for real time monitoring GABA concentrations, and enable in-vitro testing of the biosensor based functionalized nanoparticles in artificial cerebro-spinal fluid. This nano-engineered approach will enable biosensors for continuous and direct measurement of GABA concentrations, and can be extended to multiple channels to obtain a spatial-temporal distribution in brain slice and cell culture preparations. ? ? ?
