Biosensors for neurotransmitters

The recent introduction of several techniques provides a means to examine the release of neurotransmitter from living cells. These techniques exploit the use of small slices of neural tissue, and also enzymatically isolated neurons, in conjunction with an enzymatic assay to demonstrate release of specific endogenous neurotransmitters from the cells. In particular, release of the most common neurotransmitters in the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) have been observed. These transmitters are glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The techniques thus provide a valuable approach to examine the release of specific neurotransmitters from visually identified, living tissue and cells