A MULTIPURPOSE 4-CHANNEL FLUID SWIVEL

This article describes the construction of a functional quadruple flui d swivel with low propensity to leaking and low resistance to rotation , It was obtained through the addition of a fourth channel and some mo difications performed on the rotary unit of a triple channel fluid swi vel recently described, Those modifications included alterations of th e Touhey-Borst adapter (Becton-Dickinson), and the development of a ne w method of fixation of the rotary tubes to the rotary unit of the swi vel using nuts and screws, With those improvements the former swivel w as transformed in a still more versatile device that can be used in ex perimental designs requiring the use of this relatively high number of channels, It can be used, for instance, in simultaneous off-line brai n microdialysis of up to four different areas or on-line brain microdi alysis in two areas; in push-pull perfusions of two brain regions; in studies determining the neuropharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of any compound and combining continuous drug infusion through one channe l, double brain microdialysis to describe the distribution characteris tics of the drug into the central nervous system as well as to monitor the neurochemical modifications induced by the drug, and continuous p lasma sampling to know the plasma pharmacokinetics of the drug, These and several other methods used in neuroscience research can also be co mbined using the swivel described here. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.