All work on project #Z01 MH 02431-05 LCM has ceased. The microdialysis probe, which was central to the types of measurements used in this work, introduced severe and unacceptable artifacts which precluded accurate and meaningful measurement of steady-state glucose or deoxyglucose concentrations in rat brain. Part of the problem is explained by the development of edema in the region of the brain surrounding the probe itself. Work by others has now shown that the sucrose space (which is used to estimate the extracellular space) is approximately 40% larger than it should be. Recent reports from several workers have confirmed my finding that the concentration of glucose in the extracellular space estimated from microdialysis fluid is much lower than the true concentration could possibly be.
