Acute perfusion of BMAA in the rat's striatum by in vivo microdialysis

The present study is concerned with the hypothetical toxicity of β-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA), a compound that has been hypothesized to produce amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinson-dementia complex. We have used the microdialysis technique to perfused different concentrations of BMAA in the rat's striatum 24 h after the implantation of a microdialysis probe (day 1). BMAA perfusion produced a dose-response increase in the extracellular output of dopamine. Forty-eight hours after implantation of the probe (day 2), we have perfused MPP+ 1 mM to check the integrity of the dopaminergic terminals present around the cannula. Only the highest concentration of BMAA studied, 50 mM, produced a clear decrease in the extracellular output of dopamine after MPP+ perfusion. However, this decrease was very similar, even smaller, to that obtained in a previous study carried out by us with MPP+ 1 mM, a dose much lower than that used for BMAA. Our model to study toxicity in the striatal dopaminergic terminal did not show that acute perfusion of BMAA at high doses produces a clear damage to the dopaminergic terminals.