REAL-TIME MONITORING OF ELECTRICALLY STIMULATED NOREPINEPHRINE RELEASE IN RAT THALAMUS .2. MODELING OF RELEASE AND REUPTAKE CHARACTERISTICS OF STIMULATED NOREPINEPHRINE OVERFLOW

As in the preceding study, electrical stimulation was used to effect release overflow of norepinephrine in the rat thalamus. Using a weak electrochemical pretreatment of a carbon fiber electrode, it was possible to ''tune in'' the electrochemical response signal for norepinephrine without metabolite interference. This reasonably selective signal was then used to study the degradation of norepinephrine release ability caused by prolonged stimulation. Further, the signals were modeled by the method used successfully for stimulated dopamine overflow, providing hitherto unavailable information on the temporal and spatial characteristics of norepinephrine release overflow. Pertinent comparisons between the release characteristics of the dopamine and norepinephrine systems show that the half-life for norepinephrine in the extracellular fluid space is approximately 1 s in thalamus compared with 33 ms for dopamine in caudate.