Kinetic diversity of dopamine transmission in the dorsal striatum

Dopamine (DA), a highly significant neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, operates on multiple time scales to affect a diverse array of physiological functions. The significance of DA in human health is heightened by its role in a variety of pathologies. Voltammetric measurements of electrically evoked dopamine release have brought to light the existence of a patchwork of DA kinetic domains in the dorsal striatum of the rat. Thus, it becomes necessary to consider how these domains might be related to specific aspects of DA's functions. Responses evoked in the fast and slow domains are distinct in both amplitude and temporal profile. Herein we report that responses evoked in fast domains can be further classified into four distinct types, types 1-4. The dorsal striatum, therefore, exhibits a total of at least five distinct evoked responses (4 fast types and 1 slow type). All five response types conform to kinetic models based entirely on first order rate expressions, which indicates that the heterogeneity among the response types arises from kinetic diversity within the dorsal striatum terminal field. We report also that functionally distinct sub-regions of the dorsal striatum express DA kinetic diversity in a selective manner. Thus, this study documents five response types, provides a thorough kinetic explanation for each of them, and confirms their differential association with functionally distinct sub-regions of this key DA terminal field.