ABSTRACT
To be able to put in context what we know about the processes of neurotransmission, it is helpful to have some understanding of the techniques by which the information was gleaned. For instance, much of what is known about the anatomy of nerves and nerve tissue has been gathered from post mortem techniques, in sections of animal and human brain tissues, using microscopy in some guise. However, neurotransmission is a dynamic process, and therefore much of our current grasp of the subject has been accrued, in some manner, from the study of living nervous tissue. Inevitably this has meant the use of animals, although many of the methodological approaches used here have since spawned clinical applications and led to new diagnostic tools and improvements in patient care.
