The Michael Group
University of Pittsburgh

Home                 Research                 Group Members                 Publications                 Contact                 Useful Links

Effect of Dexamethasone on Gliosis, Ischemia, and
Dopamine Extraction during Mirodialysis Sampling in Brain Tissue

Microdialysis sampling of the brain is an analytical technique with numerous applications in neuroscience and the neurointensive care of brain-injured human patients. Even so, implanting microdialysis probes into brain tissue causes a penetration injury that triggers gliosis (the activation and proliferation of glial cells) and ischemia (the interruption of blood flow). Thus, the probe samples injured tissue. Mitigating the effects of the penetration injury might refine the technique. The synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone is a potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant substance. We performed microdialysis in the rat brain for 5 days, with and without dexamethasone in the perfusion fluid (10 μM for the first 24 h and 2 μM thereafter). On the first and fourth day of the perfusion, we performed dopamine no-net-flux measurements. On the fifth day, we sectioned and stained the brain tissue and examined it by fluorescence microscopy. Although dexamethasone profoundly inhibited gliosis and ischemia around the probe tracks it had only modest effects on dopamine no-net-flux results. These findings show that dexamethasone is highly effective at suppressing gliosis and ischemia but is limited in its neuroprotective activity.

  1



Figure.



Figure 1: Effect of a microdialysis probe on striatal glial cells labeled with GFAP antibody. (A) Striatal tissue from a nonimplanted brain hemisphere (contralateral to the probe). (B) Striatal tissue next to a microdialysis probe track; the edge of the track is on the left side of the image. The right-hand column shows enlargements of the white boxes in panel B









Figure 2: Retrodialysis of dexamethasone inhibits gliosis. (A) GFAP image of striatal tissue from a nonimplanted hemisphere contralateral to a microdialysis probe. (B) GFAP image of a glial barrier formed after 5 days of microdialysis without dexamethasone. (C) GFAP image of a probe track after 5 days of retrodialysis of dexamethasone.