A novel restrainer device for acquistion of brain images in awake rats.
Neuroimage
; 289: 120556, 2024 Apr 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38423263
ABSTRACT
Functional neuroimaging methods like fMRI and PET are vital in neuroscience research, but require that subjects remain still throughout the scan. In animal research, anesthetic agents are typically applied to facilitate the acquisition of high-quality data with minimal motion artifact. However, anesthesia can have profound effects on brain metabolism, selectively altering dynamic neural networks and confounding the acquired data. To overcome the challenge, we have developed a novel head fixation device designed to support awake rat brain imaging. A validation experiment demonstrated that the device effectively minimizes animal motion throughout the scan, with mean absolute displacement and mean relative displacement of 0.0256 (SD 0.001) and 0.009 (SD 0.002), across eight evaluated subjects throughout fMRI image acquisition (total scanning time per subject 31 min, 12 s). Furthermore, the awake scans did not induce discernable stress to the animals, with stable physiological parameters throughout the scan (Mean HR 344, Mean RR 56, Mean SpO2 94 %) and unaltered serum corticosterone levels (p = 0.159). In conclusion, the device presented in this paper offers an effective and safe method of acquiring functional brain images in rats, allowing researchers to minimize the confounding effects of anesthetic use.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Vigilia
/
Anestésicos
Límite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Neuroimage
Asunto de la revista:
DIAGNOSTICO POR IMAGEM
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos