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Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry was also used to assess changes in dopamine release dynamics in the nucleus accumbens.

They adapted a technique known as fast scan cyclic voltammetry to analyse cells in culture and found that the hair follicle cells were releasing the neurotransmitters serotonin and histamine in response to touch.

"Our group is describing the first 'fast' neurochemistry recorded by voltammetry from conscious humans," said Read Montague, co-corresponding and senior author of the study, the VTC Vernon Mountcastle research professor at Virginia Tech, and director of the Center for Human Neuroscience Research and the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.

Voltammetry techniques for making real-time electrochemical readings in rodents and other laboratory models have yielded deep insights into brain function for about 30 years, but there was no clear path to use the techniques in humans, because they require electrodes to be inserted into the brain.

The quartz cell with 1 mm optical path length was equipped with a platinum mesh working electrode and with the same reference electrode used for voltammetry.