Differences in the effect of the antidepressant amineptine on striatal and limbic DOPAC measured by HPLC-ECD and in vivo voltammetry.

The acute effect of the antidepressant amineptine was studied in two dopaminergic areas, the striatum and the limbic system, by in vivo voltammetry. This electrochemical technique uses carbon fibre electrodes implanted in brain areas of non-anaesthetized freely moving rats to measure DOPAC diffusing from the neurons. In vivo voltammetry recordings showed that amineptine induced a slight and transient decrease in DOPAC levels in the caudate nucleus but a persistent, clear-cut decrease in the nucleus accumbens. These results were confirmed by classical biochemical determination in tissue samples. The findings indicate the possible importance of the limbic area in the mechanism of action of amineptine.