[HTML][HTML] SPECT-imaging of activity-dependent changes in regional cerebral blood flow induced by electrical and optogenetic self-stimulation in mice

A Kolodziej, M Lippert, F Angenstein, J Neubert… - Neuroimage, 2014 - Elsevier
A Kolodziej, M Lippert, F Angenstein, J Neubert, A Pethe, OS Grosser, H Amthauer…
Neuroimage, 2014Elsevier
Electrical and optogenetic methods for brain stimulation are widely used in rodents for
manipulating behavior and analyzing functional connectivities in neuronal circuits. High-
resolution in vivo imaging of the global, brain-wide, activation patterns induced by these
stimulations has remained challenging, in particular in awake behaving mice. We here
mapped brain activation patterns in awake, intracranially self-stimulating mice using a novel
protocol for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of regional …
Abstract
Electrical and optogenetic methods for brain stimulation are widely used in rodents for manipulating behavior and analyzing functional connectivities in neuronal circuits. High-resolution in vivo imaging of the global, brain-wide, activation patterns induced by these stimulations has remained challenging, in particular in awake behaving mice. We here mapped brain activation patterns in awake, intracranially self-stimulating mice using a novel protocol for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). Mice were implanted with either electrodes for electrical stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle (mfb-microstim) or with optical fibers for blue-light stimulation of channelrhodopsin-2 expressing neurons in the ventral tegmental area (vta-optostim). After training for self-stimulation by current or light application, respectively, mice were implanted with jugular vein catheters and intravenously injected with the flow tracer 99 m-technetium hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) during seven to ten minutes of intracranial self-stimulation or ongoing behavior without stimulation. The 99mTc-brain distributions were mapped in anesthetized animals after stimulation using multipinhole SPECT. Upon self-stimulation rCBF strongly increased at the electrode tip in mfb-microstim mice. In vta-optostim mice peak activations were found outside the stimulation site. Partly overlapping brain-wide networks of activations and deactivations were found in both groups. When testing all self-stimulating mice against all controls highly significant activations were found in the rostromedial nucleus accumbens shell. SPECT-imaging of rCBF using intravenous tracer-injection during ongoing behavior is a new tool for imaging regional brain activation patterns in awake behaving rodents providing higher spatial and temporal resolutions than 18 F-2-fluoro-2-dexoyglucose positron emission tomography.
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