Invilog Contract Research

Contract Research

Our contract work is based on several approaches that had been originally developed in our laboratories and were successfully employed in contract research with academic and industrial partners. These approaches include:

  • In vivo voltammetry in freely-moving and anaesthetized mouse transgenic strains (published in 2000)
  • Analysis of the effects of drugs on noradrenaline overflow in real-time in the mouse hippocampus (published in 2005)
  • Combination of in vivo voltammetry with EEG and single unit recording (reports to clients)
  • FSCV in brain slices (reports to clients)
  • Electrophysiological and neurochemical analysis of spreading depression in rats and mouse transgenic strains ( published in 2005)
  • Automatic registration and analysis of specific EEG patterns (published in 1994)

In vivo voltammetry and microdialysis are two complementary methods. We can combine both methods in the same animal. However, in some cases in vivo voltammetry is the only or at least the best option to answer the questions related to the effects of drugs or their mechanisms of action.

When is application of in vivo voltammetry the best choice?

  • if the size of the anatomical structure to be investigated is small
  • If time of neurotransmitter release is in the millisecond to second scale
  • If the drug acts on the pre-synaptic machinery of neurotransmitter release, e.g. via pre-synaptic autoreceptors (alpha-2 adrenoceptors, D2 receptors etc)
  • If the drug modulates pre-synaptic release via heteroreceptors
  • If the drug modulates re-uptake of released transmitter (e.g. via DAT)
  • If synthesis of neurotransmitter is affected by the study drug
  • When the target for the drug is the vesicular transporter system (e.g. VMAT)
  • When the drug affects transport or maturation of the vesicles in pre-synaptic terminals
  • If the drug can alter neurotransmitter release via modulation of intracellular calcium storage and mobilization