Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2026
Real-Time Dynamic Collection of Hippocampal Extracellular Fluid from Conscious Rats Using a Microdialysis System
Published on: October 21, 2022
Microdialysis for assessing intratumoral drug disposition in brain cancers: a tool for rational drug development
Jaishri Blakeley1, Jana Portnow
1Johns Hopkins University, Neurosurgery and Oncology, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA. jblakel3@jhmi.edu
Importance Of The Field:
many promising targeted agents and combination therapies are being investigated for brain cancer. However, the results from recent clinical trials have been disappointing. A better understanding of the disposition of drug in the brain early in drug development would facilitate appropriate channeling of new drugs into brain cancer clinical trials.
Areas Covered In This Review:
barriers to successful drug activity against brain cancer and issues affecting intratumoral drug concentrations are reviewed. The use of the microdialysis technique for extracellular fluid (ECF) sampling and its application to drug distribution studies in brain are reviewed using published literature from 1995 to the present. The benefits and limitations of microdialysis for performing neuorpharmacokinetic (nPK) and neuropharmacodynamic (nPD) studies are discussed.
What The Reader Will Gain:
the reader will gain an appreciation of the challenges involved in identifying agents likely to have efficacy in brain cancer, an understanding of the general principles of microdialysis, and the power and limitations of using this technique in early drug development for brain cancer therapies.
Take Home Message:
a major factor preventing efficacy of anti-brain cancer drugs is limited access to tumor. Intracerebral microdialysis allows sampling of drug in the brain ECF. The resulting nPK/nPD data can aid in the rational selection of drugs for investigation in brain tumor clinical trials.
Insights
Limited drug access to brain tumors hinders efficacy. Intracerebral microdialysis sampling of extracellular fluid (ECF) provides crucial neuropharmacokinetic (nPK) and neuropharmacodynamic (nPD) data to guide brain cancer drug development.
Area of Science:
- Neuro-oncology
- Pharmacokinetics
- Drug Development
Background:
- Brain cancer therapies face challenges with disappointing clinical trial outcomes.
- Understanding drug disposition in the brain is critical for effective early-stage drug development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review barriers to drug efficacy in brain cancer.
- To discuss the application of microdialysis for drug distribution studies in the brain.
Main Methods:
- Review of literature from 1995 to present on microdialysis for extracellular fluid (ECF) sampling.
- Discussion of neuropharmacokinetic (nPK) and neuropharmacodynamic (nPD) studies using microdialysis.
Main Results:
- Identifies limited tumor drug access as a key factor in brain cancer treatment failure.
- Highlights the utility and limitations of microdialysis in early drug development for brain tumors.
Conclusions:
- Intracerebral microdialysis enables direct sampling of drugs in brain ECF.
- nPK/nPD data from microdialysis can rationally guide the selection of drugs for brain tumor clinical trials.
