Electrochemical methods for monitoring neurotransmitter dynamics in vitro: From theory to experiments

Electrochemical monitoring of neurotransmitter signaling molecules, i.e. neurotransmitters, has been often used for various biological investigations involving physiological or pathological states. In this work we introduce alternatives to conventional electrochemical bio-monitoring and study three important neurotransmitters, dopamine, serotonin and noradrenalin, in vitro using an electrochemical technique, AC voltammetry, in combination with the Hilbert transform. We show how this method overcomes the two major difficulties of electrochemical bio-sensing: capacitance influence and the inherently nonlinear behavior of electron-transfer. We illustrate how such novel methods enhance the quantity and the quality of the biological information extracted from electrochemical measurements. This study has not only implications in general biological monitoring methodologies but also in software and hardware design and micro-fabrication.