Modeling voltammetry and microdialysis of striatal extracellular dopamine: the impact of dopamine uptake on extraction and recovery ratios.

Numerical modeling was used as a means to examine the relationship between the outcome of in vivo voltammetry and microdialysis experiments and dopamine concentrations in the extracellular fluid of rat striatum. In the case of microdialysis, quantitative interpretation of results demands knowledge of the in vivo values for the extraction and recovery ratios of the probes toward dopamine. Equality of the extraction and recovery ratios is a necessary condition for the direct application of the no-net-flux method as a quantitative technique. Recent results have suggested that the extraction and recovery ratios are not equal, and this interpretation is now supported by theory. A new relationship between extraction and recovery is proposed.