Journal of Pain Management & Medicine

Microdialysis Study

Microdialysis study is a minimally-invasive sampling technique that is used for continuous measurement of free, unbound analyte concentrations in the extracellular fluid of virtually any tissue. Analytes may include endogenous molecules to assess their biochemical functions in the body, or exogenous compounds to determine their distribution within the body.

The microdialysis technique requires the insertion of a small microdialysis catheter called as microdialysis probe into the area of tissue. There are a variety of probes with different membrane and shaft length combinations available. Probe is continuously perfused with an aqueous solution that closely resembles the (ionic) composition of the surrounding tissue fluid at a low flow rate of 0.1-5μL/min, direction of the analyte flow is determined by the respective concentration gradient and allows the usage of microdialysis probes as sampling as well as delivery tools. Microdialysis is the only sampling technique that can continuously monitor drug or metabolite concentrations in the extracellular fluid of virtually any tissue hence is appropriate technique to be used for tissue distribution studies.

Related Journals of Microdialysis Study

European Journal of Anesthesiology, Open Pain Journal, Journal of Pain & Relief