MULTISITE OPTICAL RECORDING OF MEMBRANE POTENTIAL

THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO IMPROVE OPTICAL METHODS FOR MONITORING MEMBRANE POTENTIAL. PRESENT EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THESE METHODS MIGHT BE USED IN TWO CLINICAL SETTINGS: FIRST, TO STUDY THE GENERATION OF ARRHYTHMIAS AND OTHER ABNORMALITIES OF ACTION POTENTIAL PROPAGATION IN THE HEART; AND SECOND, TO LOCALIZE REGIONS OF EPILEPTOGENIC FOCI IN PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY WHO REQUIRE SURGERY. THE SPECIFIC AIMS ARE TO IMPROVE OPTICAL-MEASURING TECHNOLOGY IN THREE AREAS. FIRST, TO IMPROVE THE DYES THAT TRANSDUCE THE CHANGES IN MEMBRANE POTENTIAL INTO OPTICAL SIGNALS, IT IS PROPOSED TO SYNTHESIZE NEW DYES OF NOVEL STRUCTURAL TYPES. SECOND, TO MAKE THE PHOTODIODE ARRAY AND THE ASSOCIATED AMPLIFIERS MORE FLEXIBLE, RELIABLE, AND ECONOMICAL, IT IS PROPOSED TO START WITH AN ARRAY WITH MORE ELEMENTS TO IMPROVE THE SPATIAL RESOLUTION. AND THIRD, TO MAKE THE COMPUTER RECORDING AND ANALYSIS MORE POWERFUL AND ECONOMICAL, HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR A 32-BIT COMPUTER WILL BE DEVELOPED. OPTICAL MONITORING OF MEMBRANE POTENTIAL IS A NEW METHOD THAT ALLOWS SIMULTANEOUS MONITORING FROM MANY SITES. THE PROPOSED DYES, THE MODIFICATIONS TO THE AMPLIFIER SYSTEM, AND THE INCORPORATION OF A 32-BIT COMPUTER INTO THE LABORATORY WOULD BE TECHNICALLY INNOVATIVE. IF SUCCESSFUL, THESE NOVEL SOLUTIONS WOULD BE PART OF APPARATUS THAT WORLD PRECISION INSTRUMENTS, INC. WOULD MARKET TO BIOLOGISTS AND CLINICAL SCIENTISTS.