Improved Serotonin Measurement with Fast-Scan Cyclic Voltammetry: Mitigating Fouling by SSRIs

Abstract

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been used for decades to treat disorders linked to serotonin dysregulation in the brain. Moreover, SSRIs are often used in studies aimed at measuring serotonin with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) in living tissues. Here, we show that three different SSRIs—fluoxetine, escitalopram, and sertraline—significantly diminish the faradaic oxidation current of serotonin when employing the commonly used Jackson waveform. Coating carbon-fiber microelectrodes (CFMs) with Nafion resulted in further degradation of peak current, increased response times, and decreased background charging currents compared to bare CFMs. To decrease fouling, we employed a recently published extended serotonin waveform, which scans to a maximum positive potential of +1.3 V, rather than +1.0 V used in the Jackson waveform. Use of this waveform with bare CFMs alleviated the decrease in faradaic current, indicating decreased electrode fouling. Collectively, our results suggest that fouling considerations are important when designing FSCV experiments that employ SSRIs and that they can be overcome by using the appropriate waveform.