Work

Functional Brain Mapping in Freely Moving Rats during Treadmill Walking

Year: 2003

Type: article

Abstract: A dilemma in functional neuroimaging is that immobilization of the subject, necessary to avoid movement artifact, extinguishes all but the simplest behaviors. Recently, we developed an implantable microbolus infusion pump (MIP) that allows bolus injection of radiotracers by remote activation in freely moving, nontethered animals. The MIP is examined as a tool for brain mapping in rats during a locomotor task. Cerebral blood flow-related tissue radioactivity (CBF-TR) was measured using [14C]-iodoantipyrine with an indicator-fractionation method, followed by autoradiography. Rats exposed to walking on a treadmill, compared to quiescent controls, showed increases in CBF-TR in motor circuits (primary motor cortex, dorsolateral striatum, ventrolateral thalamus, midline cerebellum, copula pyramis, paramedian lobule), in primary somatosensory cortex mapping the forelimbs, hindlimbs and trunk, as well as in secondary visual cortex. These results support the use of implantable pumps as adjunct tools for functional neuroimaging of behaviors that cannot be elicited in restrained or tethered animals.

Source: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism

DOI: 10.1097/01.wcb.0000072797.66873.6a

Authors: D P Holschneider, J-M I Maarek, J Yang, J Harimoto, O U Scremin

Institutions: University of Southern California, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, University of California, Los Angeles

Language: English

Topic: Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications

Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering