A novel microdialysis probe designed for clinical use: potential analytical and therapeutic applications

Significant obstacles to the use of microdialysis in the clinic for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes include the production of dedicated entry port through the skull and the formation of a tract by the insertion of a probe into the parenchyma. We have developed a microdialysis probe that is minimally invasive and can be combined with an intracranial pressure probe, recording electrode, or other intracranial probe, that is minimally invasive. Yet the surface area of this probe is very high, permitting high recovery efficiencies even at relatively high flow rates. This probe design makes possible minimally invasive measurement of the peroxidation product, uric acid, and excitatory amino acids, two analytes that increase in experimental traumatic brain injury in animals. Moreover, its large surface area makes therapeutic applications of microdialysis probes in the brain potentially feasible. A pilot evaluation of the ability of microdialysis to have therapeutic benefit in limiting experimental excitotoxin lesions induced in rat striatum by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is reported.