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. 2005 Oct 26;7(3):E686–E692. doi: 10.1208/aapsj070369

Microdialysis of large molecules

Geraldine F Clough 1,✉
PMCID: PMC2751271  PMID: 16353945

Abstract

Microdialysis has been used in many tissues, including skin, brain, adipose tissue, muscle, kidney, and gastrointestinal tract, to recover low-molecular mass endogenous mediators, metabolites, and xenobiotics from the interstitial space. Recently, molecules of larger molecular mass, such as plasma proteins, cytokines, growth factors, and neuropeptides, have also been recovered successfully using largerpore membranes. Microdialysis recovery of large molecules offers the opportunity to identify patterns of protein expression in a variety of tissue spaces and to evaluate clinically useful biomarkers of disease. From this may develop a better understanding of the disease process and its diagnosis and more targeted approaches to therapy.

Keywords: microdialysis, proteins, cytokines

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