Kinetic Diversity of Striatal Dopamine: Evidence from a Novel Protocol for Voltammetry

In vivo voltammetry reveals substantial diversity of dopamine kinetics in the rat striatum. To substantiate this kinetic diversity, we evaluate the temporal distortion of dopamine measurements arising from the diffusion-limited adsorption of dopamine to voltammetric microelectrodes. We validate two mathematical procedures for correcting adsorptive distortion, both of which substantiate that dopamine's apparent kinetic diversity is not an adsorption artifact.

Modeling the kinetic diversity of dopamine in the dorsal striatum

Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that exhibits numerous functions in the healthy, injured, and diseased brain. Fast scan cyclic voltammetry paired with electrical stimulation of dopamine axons is a popular and powerful method for investigating the dynamics of dopamine in the extracellular space. Evidence now suggests that the heterogeneity of electrically evoked dopamine responses reflects the inherent kinetic diversity of dopamine systems, which might contribute to their diversity of physiological function. Dopamine measurements by fast scan cyclic voltammetry are affected by the adsorption of dopamine to carbon fiber electrodes. The temporal distortion caused by dopamine adsorption is correctable by a straightforward mathematical procedure. The corrected responses exhibit excellent agreement with a dopamine kinetic model cast to provide a generic description of restricted diffusion, short-term plasticity of dopamine release, and first-order dopamine clearance. The new DA kinetic model brings to light the rich kinetic information content of electrically evoked dopamine responses recorded via fast scan cyclic voltammetry in the rat dorsal striatum.