Acetylcholine determination of microdialysates of fetal neocortex grafts that induce recovery of learning.

The microdialysis technique for acetylcholine (ACh) first became possible when sensitive and specific assays for ACh (pmol/sample range) were developed [G. Damsma, B.H.C. Westerink, P. de Boer, J.B. de Vries, A.S. Horn, Determination of basal acetylcholine release in freely moving rats by transstriatal dialysis coupled to on-line HPLC analysis: pharmacological aspects, Life Sci. 43 (1988) 1161-1168; G. Damsma, B.H.C. Westerink, A. Imperato, H. Rollema, J.B. de Vries, A. S. Horn, Automated brain dialysis of acetylcholine in freely moving rats: detection of basal acetylcholine, Life Sci. 41 (1987) 873-876; P.E. Potter, J.L. Meek, N.H. Neff, Acetylcholine and choline in neural tissue measured by HPLC with electrochemical detection, J. Neurochem. 41 (1983) 188-194; B.H.C. Westerink, G. Damsma, Determination of acetylcholine in microdialysates by HPLC and electrochemical detection, Neurosci. Protocols 20 (1993) 1-9.]. In the present protocol, the microdialysis technique was used to correlate ACh release with the recovery of the ability to acquire a conditioning taste aversion (CTA), by fetal brain grafts in insular cortex (IC) lesioned rats [M.I. Miranda, A.M. Lopez-Colome, F. Bermúdez Rattoni, Recovery of conditional taste aversion induced by fetal neocortex grafts. In vivo correlation of acetylcholine levels, Brain Res. 759 (1997) 141-148]. Three groups of IC lesioned rats showing disrupted CTA received cell suspension grafts of fetal tissue dissected from either the IC or occipital cortex (OC) of 16-day-old rat fetuses. One of the groups of IC-grafted animals was tested after 15 days post-graft; the other groups, IC- and OC-grafted animals, were tested after a recovery time of 45 days, as well as the groups of lesioned and unoperated animals used as control. After the CTA test, guide cannulas were stereotaxically implanted into the IC of all groups. Two days later, microdialysis was performed to determine the extracellular levels of ACh inside the graft. The dialysates were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and electrochemical detection. The ACh was converted by the enzyme acetylcholinesterase to choline, and subsequently by choline oxidase to hydrogen peroxide [J.L. Meek, C. Eva, Enzymes adsorbed on an ion exchanger as a post-column reactor: application to acetylcholine measurement, J. Chromatogr. 317 (1984) 343-347.]. The reactor with these enzymes was placed between the analytical column and the electrochemical detector. The hydrogen peroxide produced was detected with a platinum electrode, and choline was determined concurrently. We believe that the application of free-moving microdialysis as a method to measure the cholinergic levels inside the transplant at two post-graft periods, is a good, direct technique to correlate the effects of ACh levels from the fetal grafts in lesioned rats.