NAMISTMem · Nanoscale Analytical Methods to gain insight into the Initiation of Short-Term Memory

Nanoscale Analytical Methods to gain insight into the Initiation of Short-Term Memory

Neurons communicate with electrical signals that are converted to chemical signals through exocytosis. In exocytosis, an electrical signal in the form of an action potential triggers synaptic vesicles filled with neurotransmitter molecules to fuse with the plasma membrane and release these molecules into the synaptic between two neighboring neurons. During the exocytosis, the lipid molecules in the membrane are changed by the simple diffusion of these molecules from the neurotransmitter vesicles to the membrane during release, and this leads to a change in the neurotransmission process to produce a short-term memory (STM). The molecular mechanism that initiates the formation of STM is clearly attributed to the main symptoms in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease as well as autism spectrum disorders. These neural disorders showed devastating effects not only on the individual but also society. Despite the vital role in neural disorders, the molecular mechanism of STM initiation is still mostly a mystery. This project aimed to develop novel nano-bioanalytical strategies to explore a molecular paradigm for the initiation of STM based on exocytosis events. Understanding STM initiation at the molecular level requires advanced analytical measurements at the single cell level to monitor individual exocytosis events. This poses an extreme analytical challenge. “NAMISTMem” focused on developing new strategies based on electrodes and electrochemical detection for the quantitative determination of the entire vesicle content and provided a new direction of research to measure cellular changes in presence of chemical endogenous factors (e.g., lipids and zinc) during exocytosis, which correlates these changes to the initial memory formation. In this project, for the quantitative determination of the entire vesicle content, a microwell array chip (MWAC) was designed and fabricated to trap and detect the entire content of individual vesicles. The fabricated MWAC promotes our ability to quantify the content of vesicles accurately, which is fundamentally important in vesicular content analysis and studies of exocytosis as a key part of STM. In another part of the project, using a nano-injection method, we introduced different phospholipids into single cells and used electrochemical methods, single cell amperometry (SCA) and intracellular vesicle impact electrochemical cytometry (IVIEC), with nanotip electrodes to monitor the effects of intracellular incubation on the exocytosis process. Our findings provide a crucial piece of data to the hypothesis that lipid heterogeneity and structure might be involved as a regulatory mechanism for exocytotic or synaptic strength in the initial stages of STM. Moreover, developing an analytical approach for understanding the role of zinc ion in STM formation was considered in the project. The initial fabrication of a model ion-selective sensor for this purpose has been performed successfully.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз