Specific oxidative stress profile associated with partial striatal dopaminergic depletion by 6-hydroxydopamine as assessed by a novel multifunctional marker molecule.

Real time oxidative stress in the extracellular compartment of rat striatum was characterized by microdialysis with synthetic non-dialyzable marker molecules composed of linoleic acid, tyrosine and guanosine (N-linoleoyl tyrosine (LT) and N-linoleoyl tyrosine 2'-deoxyguanosyl ester (LTG)). Partial dopaminergic deafferentation was induced by injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (250 microg) to the left lateral ventricle, which depleted ipsilateral striatal dopamine by 46% and dopaminergic cells in left substantia nigra by 44%, 5 weeks after administration. Resting microdialysate dopamine levels in dopamine-depleted striatum were not different from sham-operated rats, although the ratio of oxidized metabolites of dopamine to free dopamine was significantly increased.