Investigation of Dopamine Release on Self-assembled Monolayers by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Abstract

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, controls many psychological and behavioral activities of the mammalian central nervous system. Over secretion of dopamine can make the body overexcited and lead to mental disorders. Whereas, less secretion can develop Parkinson’s symptoms. Therefore, achieving controlled release of dopamine plays a vital role in life sciences. In this work, two kinds of self-assembled monolayers were prepared by non-covalent and covalent assembly, respectively, to reach the function of dopamine controllable release. After characterization of the two self-assembled monolayers, the release function was well monitored and analyzed by scanning electrochemical microscopy. The result showed that ion pair effect, as well as acids and alkali, would stimulate a steady-state release of dopamine on the non-covalent monolayers. The combined effect of alkali and positive potential would stimulate a steady-state release of dopamine on the covalent monolayers. This work successfully reaches the controllable release of dopamine in vitro, and offers some reference value for this function in vivo.