Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
J Am Chem Soc. 2017 Jan 18;139(2):583-586. doi: 10.1021/jacs.6b10727. Epub 2016 Dec 30.
Acetylcholine is an important neurotransmitter that relays neural excitation from lower motor neurons to muscles. It also plays significant roles in the central nervous system by modulating neurotransmission. However, there is a lack of tools to directly measure the quantity and distribution of acetylcholine at the subcellular level. In this Communication, we demonstrate for the first time that label-free imaging of acetylcholine is achieved with frequency-modulated spectral-focusing stimulated Raman scattering (FMSF-SRS) microscopy: a technical improvement over traditional SRS microscopy that effectively removes imaging backgrounds. Moreover, we directly quantified the local concentration of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction of frog cutaneous pectoris muscle.
乙酰胆碱是一种重要的神经递质，它将来自下运动神经元的神经兴奋传递到肌肉。它在中枢神经系统中通过调节神经递质传递也发挥着重要作用。然而，目前缺乏直接在亚细胞水平测量乙酰胆碱数量和分布的工具。在本通讯中，我们首次证明了无标记的乙酰胆碱成像可以通过频率调制光谱聚焦受激拉曼散射（FMSF-SRS）显微镜来实现：这是对传统 SRS 显微镜的一项技术改进，可有效去除成像背景。此外，我们还直接定量了青蛙皮胸肌神经肌肉接头处的乙酰胆碱局部浓度。
