Current Techniques for Investigating the Brain Extracellular Space
Review article fruit of the internal collaboration within Achucarro and the UPV/EHU
The brain extracellular space (ECS) has recently been dubbed the final frontier of neuroscience, alluding to its many intriguing yet unknown physiological properties and roles. It is on one hand vast in extent, while on the other it is characterized by substructures that are smaller than even the finest cellular morphologies.
This poses huge technical challenges for researchers investigating the physiology of the ECS, and has bottlenecked our understanding of this compartment.
Dr. Jan Tønnesen, from the Laboratory of Neuronal Excitability teamed up with Dr. Federico N. Soria from the Laboratory of Neurobiology, as well as researchers Dr. Cristina Miguelez and Dr. Olga Peñagarikano from the Department of Pharmacology of the UPV/EHU, to provide a comprehensive review on the strengths and limitations of current techniques for addressing the brain ECS.
In addition to reviewing current state-of-the-art, the article points out emerging techniques that hold the potential to transform the field.