Columbia University and Ascent Scientific have signed a license agreement for FFN511, a fluorescent probe for optical imaging and measurement of synaptic activity in the brain. Memory, decision-making, and learning require activation and modification of synapses in the brain. This synaptic transmission involves the accumulation of neurotransmitters in vesicles within the cytoplasm of the pre-synaptic neuron. Neurotransmitters are released when the vesicle fuses with the plasma membrane of the cell. Previous methods have allowed researchers to measure post-synaptic neuronal activity and to observe the vesicle-membrane fusion process, but the new tool permits direct visualization of neurotransmitter release and uptake and measures synaptic activity. “We expect that FFNs will be useful for both fundamental and applied neurobiology research across a wide range of areas, including learning, neurodegeneration, and drug addiction,” says Beth Kauderer of Columbia Technology Ventures, the university’s technology licensing office.
To develop the technology, Dalibor Sames, PhD, associate professor in Columbia’s department of chemistry, and David Sulzer, PhD, professor of neurobiology at Columbia University Medical Center, created several fluorescent false neurotransmitters (FFNs) — a class of highly efficient optical imaging probes that fluoresce sufficiently to provide resolution at the individual synaptic level but at concentrations that do not interfere with normal synaptic function. “We believe that FFN511 has the potential to become an essential research tool for neuroscientists studying the synaptic transmission of dopamine as well as for drug discovery efforts seeking to identify improved blockers and enhancers of dopamine transporter activity,” Sulzer says. “Blocking of dopamine active transport proteins has been shown to ameliorate symptoms in preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease, and drugs that target dopamine transporters and receptors are used to treat ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.”
Source: News Blaze