Correlation between behavior and extracellular dopamine levels in rat striatum: comparison of microdialysis and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry.

Recently, fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) has been adapted for real-time measurements of evoked dopamine (DA) release and uptake in freely moving rats. Using the advantages of this experimental design in combination with behavioral measures, we examined the effect of GBR 12909 (20 mg/kg, i.p.), a selective DA uptake inhibitor, on striatal extracellular DA dynamics and compared these data to that obtained by microdialysis. These studies established that both techniques report changes in DA that correlate with the kinetics of GBR 12909-induced behavioral effects. However, the time course of changes in evoked DA levels detected by FSCV was more closely linked with the changes in stereotypy than microdialysis measurements.