
November 11, 2014 15:47 PSP Book - 9in x 6in 01-Serge-Cosnier-c01
16 Electrochemical Detection of Exocytosis
Nonsynaptic cell models are preferentially investigated by
neurobiologists since they possess rather large-sized vesicles (0.25–
1 μm in diameter) packed at an extremely high neurotransmitter
concentration (until 0.6 mol L
−1
) that allows enhancing of the
detection sensitivity (on average ca. 500,000 molecules are released
per vesicle during ∼10–100 ms). The cell models investigated are
numerous and well documented in recent reviews [2, 3]. They
mainly include adrenal (bovine, calf, rat, etc.) chromaffin cells (that
release a mixture of catecholamines: ...