Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess the effects of cocaine on brain activation in fully conscious rats. Methods were developed to image cocaine-induced changes in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal without the peripheral cardiac and respiratory complications associated with psychostimulant administration. Using spin echo planar imaging (EPI), conscious rats were imaged in a 4.7 T spectrometer prior to and following the intracerebroventricular injection of cocaine (20 microg) in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (10 uL). Within 5 min of injection, there was a significant increase in BOLD signal intensity in the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum and prefrontal cortex, as compared to vehicle controls. Minimal negative BOLD signal changes were observed in response to cocaine and no significant perturbations in normal cardiovascular and respiratory function. These findings demonstrate the technical feasibility of studying psychostimulant-induced brain activity using functional MRI in conscious rats.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2004.04.028 | DOI Listing |
Nat Prod Res
January 2025
Engineering Research Center of Modern Preparation Technology of TCM of Ministry of Education, Innovation Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Borneolum (BO) is an effectiveness adjuvant in facilitating the transportation of central nervous system drugs to the brain by opening the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Citalopram hydrobromide (CIT-HBr), a widely prescribed serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor, restricts the efficacy due to the BBB, resulting in slow onset and systemic side effects. Enhancing CIT-HBr's efficacy through BO appears to be a promising approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Endocrinol Metab
January 2025
Autonomic Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Life Science and Human Technology, Nara Women's University, Kita-Uoya Nishimachi, Nara, 630-8506, Japan.
The current study aimed to propose a method to directly measure right cervical vagal nerve activity (cVNA) alongside renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) in conscious rats. The right cervical vagus nerve was surgically exposed and fitted with a bipolar electrode to record cVNA. A microcatheter was used to administer levobupivacaine to selectively block afferent cVNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Molecular Medicine, Brain Signalling Laboratory, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Section for Physiology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Propofol and ketamine are widely used general anaesthetics, but have different effects on consciousness: propofol gives a deeply unconscious state, with little or no dream reports, whereas vivid dreams are often reported after ketamine anaesthesia. Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, while propofol is a γ-aminobutyric-acid (GABAA) receptor positive allosteric modulator, but these mechanisms do not fully explain how these drugs alter consciousness. Most previous in vitro studies of cellular mechanisms of anaesthetics have used brain slices or neurons in a nearly "comatose" state, because no "arousing" neuromodulators were added.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurogastroenterol Motil
December 2024
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Introduction: Gastrointestinal (GI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables simultaneous assessment of gastric peristalsis, emptying, and intestinal filling and transit. However, GI MRI in animals typically requires anesthesia, which complicates physiology and confounds interpretation and translation to humans. This study aimed to establish GI MRI in conscious rats, and for the first time, characterize GI motor functions in awake versus anesthetized conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain Neurosci Adv
December 2024
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Although a role of the thalamus in different arousal and awareness states is well established, there is a surprising lack of knowledge on subregional specificity within this complex, multinucleated structure of the diencephalon. In their recent paper 'Extrasynaptic GABA-A receptors in central medial thalamus mediate anaesthesia in rats', Muheyati et al. evaluated whether GABA receptors expressed in the central medial (CM), paraventricular (PV) or lateral mediodorsal (MD) nuclei of the thalamus contribute to the loss of the righting reflex (LORR) in rats.
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