Potassium Permanganate Can Mark the Site of Microdialysis in Brain Sections

AbstractMicrodialysis is a technique used to study the extracellular environment or to deliver minute quantities of drugs into the central nervous system and other tissues in physiological experiments. It may have an expanding role in clinical studies. It can be used to study the microenvironment or to study the systemic effects of extremely localized pharmacological interventions, without interpretation of the results being confounded by systemic distribution of circulating drug. Proper interpretation of experimental results, however, depends on precise histological localization of the site of microdialysis or microinjection. This paper describes a simple method using potassium permanganate in 1% filtered aqueous solution to mark the site of experimental microdialysis or microinjection in brain tissue. Potassium permanganate reacts with brain tissue to produce insoluble, tar-like organic manganese dioxide reaction products that make a more visible mark than staining with either 5% neutral red or 5% fast ...