Recent development in amperometric measurements of vesicular exocytosis.

Abstract Vesicular exocytosis is a ubiquitous bio-process involved in plenty of normal and pathologic events in living cells and has received increasing research attention. After decades of progress, amperometry has been demonstrated to be one of the most powerful techniques to monitor the exocytotic release in real time because of its remarkable advantages such as facility to implement, high sensitivity and sub-millisecond temporal resolution. In this review, we provide an overview of recent advances in electrochemical courses related to exocytotic secretions. The principle for amperometric characterization of quantal exocytosis is briefly introduced. Development of mircrofabricated architectures for amperometric detection and their contributions are summarized. An intimate coupling of amperometry and fluorescence imaging for in-situ exocytosis tracking are highlighted. Highlights • Amperometry provides quantitative information of exocytosis at sub-millisecond level. • Lab-on-chips satisfies different requirements for exocytosis monitoring. • Coupling electrochemistry with fluorescence imaging promises high spatiotemporal resolution. • Transparent electrode is the key for the combined method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]