Miniaturized and Wireless Optical Neurotransmitter Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring of Dopamine in the Brain

Min H Kim; Hargsoon Yoon; Sang H Choi; Fei Zhao; Jongsung Kim; Kyo D Song; Uhn Lee

doi:10.3390/s16111894

Miniaturized and Wireless Optical Neurotransmitter Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring of Dopamine in the Brain

Sensors (Basel). 2016 Nov 10;16(11):1894. doi: 10.3390/s16111894.

Authors

Min H Kim¹, Hargsoon Yoon^{2

3}, Sang H Choi⁴, Fei Zhao⁵, Jongsung Kim⁶, Kyo D Song^{7

8}, Uhn Lee⁹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Materials Research, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504, USA. m.kim@spartans.nsu.edu.
² Center for Materials Research, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504, USA. hyoon@nsu.edu.
³ Neural Engineering and Nano Electronics Laboratory, Department of Engineering, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504, USA. hyoon@nsu.edu.
⁴ NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA. sang.h.choi@nasa.gov.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Korea. zhaofei0911@gmail.com.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Korea. jongkim@gachon.ac.kr.
⁷ Center for Materials Research, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504, USA. ksong@nsu.edu.
⁸ Neural Engineering and Nano Electronics Laboratory, Department of Engineering, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504, USA. ksong@nsu.edu.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon 21936, Korea. uhn@gachon.ac.kr.

Abstract

Real-time monitoring of extracellular neurotransmitter concentration offers great benefits for diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders and diseases. This paper presents the study design and results of a miniaturized and wireless optical neurotransmitter sensor (MWONS) for real-time monitoring of brain dopamine concentration. MWONS is based on fluorescent sensing principles and comprises a microspectrometer unit, a microcontroller for data acquisition, and a Bluetooth wireless network for real-time monitoring. MWONS has a custom-designed application software that controls the operation parameters for excitation light sources, data acquisition, and signal processing. MWONS successfully demonstrated a measurement capability with a limit of detection down to a 100 nanomole dopamine concentration, and high selectivity to ascorbic acid (90:1) and uric acid (36:1).

Keywords: dopamine; fluorescence; microspectrometer; optical sensing; wireless.

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Biosensing Techniques / methods*
Brain / metabolism*
Dopamine / analysis*
Humans
Neurotransmitter Agents / analysis*
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
Wireless Technology*

Substances

Neurotransmitter Agents
Dopamine