A Mouse Holder for Awake Functional Imaging in Unanesthetized Mice: Applications in 31 P Spectroscopy, Manganese-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies, and Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Lindsay C FadelIvany V PatelJonathan RomeroI-Chih TanShelli R KeslerVikram RaoS A Amali S SubasingheRussell S RayJason T YusteinMatthew J AllenBrian W GibsonJustin J VerlindenStanley FaynNicole RuggieroCaitlyn OrtizElizabeth HipskindAaron FengChijindu IheanachoAlex WangRobia G PautlerPublished in: Biosensors (2022)
Anesthesia is often used in preclinical imaging studies that incorporate mouse or rat models. However, multiple reports indicate that anesthesia has significant physiological impacts. Thus, there has been great interest in performing imaging studies in awake, unanesthetized animals to obtain accurate results without the confounding physiological effects of anesthesia. Here, we describe a newly designed mouse holder that is interfaceable with existing MRI systems and enables awake in vivo mouse imaging. This holder significantly reduces head movement of the awake animal compared to previously designed holders and allows for the acquisition of improved anatomical images. In addition to applications in anatomical T 2 -weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we also describe applications in acquiring 31 P spectra, manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) transport rates and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in awake animals and describe a successful conditioning paradigm for awake imaging. These data demonstrate significant differences in 31 P spectra, MEMRI transport rates, and rs-fMRI connectivity between anesthetized and awake animals, emphasizing the importance of performing functional studies in unanesthetized animals. Furthermore, these studies demonstrate that the mouse holder presented here is easy to construct and use, compatible with standard Bruker systems for mouse imaging, and provides rigorous results in awake mice.
Keyphrases
- magnetic resonance imaging
- resting state
- functional connectivity
- high resolution
- contrast enhanced
- deep brain stimulation
- computed tomography
- magnetic resonance
- oxidative stress
- diffusion weighted imaging
- stem cells
- type diabetes
- emergency department
- multiple sclerosis
- convolutional neural network
- electronic health record
- adverse drug
- high fat diet induced