Chronic microsensors for longitudinal, subsecond dopamine detection in behaving animals

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Abstract
A chronically implanted biocompatible electrochemical microsensor allows long-term recording of subsecond dopamine dynamics in vivo. The microsensor can reliably detect behaviorally evoked dopamine release from dopamine neurons in the brain over a period of months in rats. Neurotransmission operates on a millisecond timescale but is changed by normal experience or neuropathology over days to months. Despite the importance of long-term neurotransmitter dynamics, no technique exists to track these changes in a subject from day to day over extended periods of time. Here we describe and characterize a microsensor that can detect the neurotransmitter dopamine with subsecond temporal resolution over months in vivo in rats and mice.