Chapter 1.1 What did we learn from microdialysis?

At the beginning of 1980s, microdialysis emerged as a novel method for monitoring brain neurochemistry in vivo. This was followed by a rapid, worldwide uptake of microdialysis and an explosion of papers reporting the application of the technique across a broad range of neuroscience research areas. This article discusses the historical background to in vivo neurochemical monitoring, and sets out the techniques available prior to the first microdialysis studies. Detail is then given of some of the events and people involved in one of the laboratories that played a central role in the development of microdialysis and the dissemination of this technique to the wider neuroscience community. Finally, some of the early experiments are outlined and used to illustrate a few of the many contributions that microdialysis has made to present-day neuroscience. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.