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Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are secreted by neurons and relay messages to target cells. The goal of in vivo electrochemistry is to provide a real-time view of neurotransmitters in the extracellular space of the brain. This may be done in brain slices or the intact brain of anesthetized animals to probe the basic functions that regulate neurotransmitter levels. In other experiments, the measurements need to be made in the brain of behaVing animals so that correlations of neurotransmitter fluctuations and specific behaviors can be made. For the neurotransmitter dopamine this can be accomplished today by chemical sensing of this neurotransmitter with fast scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) at carbon-fiber microelectrodes. Dopamine is an important target because it is a central player in the brain “reward” system, although its precise function is not understood. Proposed roles for dopamine in reward have included …