New tools developed for brain mapping; should boost research into depression, dementia

Researchers at Florida Institute of Technology have developed the fastest method to date for creating a key molecule used by neuroscientists at Columbia University in mapping brain activity. 

Neuroscientists are working to decode the brain to understand neurological disorders including depression and dementia, in part by studying "glutamatergic receptors," where Glu is the molecule of interest. 

To aid neuroscientists in mapping the enormously complex brain circuitry, researchers have used light to activate inactive, or "caged," neurotransmitters in live brain tissue, including glutamate. Source

More Information: Charitha Guruge et al. Improved Synthesis of Caged Glutamate and Caging Each Functional Group, ACS Chemical Neuroscience (2018). DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00152