In order to study and measure dopamine and serotonin in the human brain, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that a neurosurgical technique is safe.

Their research is available online in the public library of science journal PLOS One. According to Kenneth T. Kishida, PhD, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology and neurosurgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the study's lead author, "Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters that regulate how people think, feel, and act."

These neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that the nervous system uses to control a variety of bodily processes and activities. Only invasive procedures like deep-brain stimulation (DBS) electrode implantation, which is frequently used to treat conditions like epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, can measure dopamine and serotonin in humans with the speed (10 times per second) and accuracy that Kishida's team is able to achieve.

The neurosurgeons Stephen B. Tatter, M.D., PhD, and Adrian W. Laxton, M.D., of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Kishida's research group, have been working together to examine these neurotransmitters since 2011.

A carbon fibre microelectrode is implanted deep into the brain of patients who are set to receive a DBS implant to treat their problems in order to detect and record serotonin and dopamine released from neurons.

Patients in the operating room make decisions in a manner equivalent to playing a straightforward computer game after the microelectrode has been inserted. Dopamine and serotonin levels in the striatum, the area of the brain that governs cognition, reward, and coordinated movement, are measured as subjects carry out tasks.

Researchers located 602 patients who underwent the DBS implantation operation between January 2011 and October 2020 for this study. 486 of these patients opted out of the research protocol using the carbon fibre microelectrode, whereas 116 patients were accepted to participate.

According to Kishida, "We compared the infection rate between these two groups and found no substantial rise or change." Although the research approach exposes the brain for a little longer, the risk of infection is not increased.

Infection was identified in 2 (1.72%) of the 116 patients who underwent the surgery and 1 (.21%) of the 486 patients who did not participate in the investigation, according to Kishida's team. These results demonstrate that neurotransmitter release monitoring techniques can be employed without raising infection rates, according to Kishida.

Future investigations, in the opinion of Kishida, must demonstrate the safety of the study technique. Greater drugs or treatments for movement problems, substance use disorders, or depression may result from a better understanding of how these brain chemicals function in people, according to Kishida.