In vivo neurochemical effects of tail pinch

Tail pinch in the rat gives rise to a well characterised pattern of behaviour which includes gnawing, licking and eating. We have used both in vivo voltammetry and microdialysis to monitor neurochemical changes which accompany the behavioural response to a 5-min tail pinch. Tail pinch resulted in a increase of extracellular 5-hydroxytryptamine and a smaller and more delayed increase of 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid in the hippocampus. In the striatum there was a rise of both extracellular dopamine and ascorbate. With a recently developed constant potential voltammetric technique we can continuously monitor changes in extracellular ascorbate. Using this technique we found a very rapid rise in ascorbate current during a 5-min tail pinch; the current began to decline as soon as the clip was removed. The high time resolution of the technique also allowed us to record similar ascorbate changes during a 0.5-s tail pinch.