Short-term fasting alters neonatal rat striatal dopamine levels and serotonin metabolism: an in vivo microdialysis study

Although frequent feeding is necessary for neonatal brain., rat pups were usually separated from their dams throughout a microdialysis experiment. First, in 5-day-old rats, we examined the effect of probe insertion on initial fluctuation of extracellular striatal monoamines using in vivo microdialysis and subsequent HPLC. Second, fasting effect on monoamine metabolism was examined with or without fasting; the latter was regarded as controls. Extracellular striatal DA in the fasting group decreased promptly to 60% of the basal level in the first 2 h, and reached 50% by the end of the experiment. Dopamine in the fasting group decreased more markedly than in the control group (P < 0.01 by ANOVA) which also decreased to about 80% of the basal level. Extracellular 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) continuously increased(P < 0.01), and the serum concentration of tryptophan also increased in the fasting group (P < 0.001). We showed that extracellular striatal monoamine levels fluctuated especially in the first 2 h and fasting altered monoamine metabolism. Therefore, it should take at least 2 h after surgery to stabilize the animals and obtain adequate basal levels. In addition, we should consider that these alterations occur when we use fasting animals as controls in microdialysis studies. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.