A technique for microiontophoretic study of single neurons in the freely moving rat.

An adaptation of a miniature microdrive allows unit recording and microiontophoresis in freely moving rats. Multibarrel glass micropipets are inserted into the detachable microdrive daily, and advanced manually into superficial or deep brain structures. The demonstration of stability in recording neuronal responses to iontophoretically applied drugs suggests that this technique will be useful in studying drug actions on single neurons across a wide range of conscious behaviors.