Enhancing the Study of Quantal Exocytotic Events: Combining Diamond Multi-Electrode Arrays with Amperometric PEak Analysis (APE) an Automated Analysis Code.

MicroGraphited-Diamond-Multi Electrode Arrays (μG-D-MEAs) can be successfully used to reveal, in real time, quantal exocytotic events occurring from many individual neurosecretory cells and/or from many neurons within a network. As μG-D-MEAs arrays are patterned with up to 16 sensing microelectrodes, each of them recording large amounts of data revealing the exocytotic activity, the aim of this work was to support an adequate analysis code to speed up the signal detection. The cutting-edge technology of microGraphited-Diamond-Multi Electrode Arrays (μG-D-MEAs) has been implemented with an automated analysis code (APE, Amperometric Peak Analysis) developed using Matlab R2022a software to provide easy and accurate detection of amperometric spike parameters, including the analysis of the pre-spike foot that sometimes precedes the complete fusion pore dilatation.

Advanced real-time recordings of neuronal activity with tailored patch pipettes, diamond multi-electrode arrays and electrochromic voltage-sensitive dyes.

To understand the working principles of the nervous system is key to figure out its electrical activity and how this activity spreads along the neuronal network. It is therefore crucial to develop advanced techniques aimed to record in real time the electrical activity, from compartments of single neurons to populations of neurons, to understand how higher functions emerge from coordinated activity. To record from single neurons, a technique will be presented to fabricate patch pipettes able to seal on any membrane with a single glass type and whose shanks can be widened as desired.

Triggering Neurotransmitters Secretion from Single Cells by X-ray Nanobeam Irradiation.

The employment of ionizing radiation is a powerful tool in cancer therapy, but beyond targeted effects, many studies have highlighted the relevance of its off-target consequences. An exhaustive understanding of the mechanisms underlying these effects is still missing, and no real-time data about signals released by cells during irradiation are presently available. We employed a synchrotron X-ray nanobeam to perform the first real-time simultaneous measurement of both X-ray irradiation and in vitro neurotransmitter release from individual adrenal phaeochromocytoma (PC12) cells plated over a diamond-based multielectrode array.