Imaging Nociceptive Responses in Rodent Brain
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Shih, Yen-Yu I.
Abstract
Assessing nociception in small animals using imaging techniques has drastically increased in the last decade. The development of animal models mimics the potential neurophysical effects in humans and undertakes the evaluation of new drugs and therapeutic strategies in the preclinical stages. However, owing to the complexity of the pain processing in brain, understanding the mechanisms within different brain areas raises a need for simultaneously detecting the spatiotemporal patterns of neuronal activities. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography are the most commonly used techniques providing non-invasive, in vivo measurement of the cerebral hemodynamics as well as molecular processes. This thesis encompasses a range of widely used functional brain imaging techniques, including blood-oxygenation-level-dependent fMRI, cerebral blood volume weighted fMRI, and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose microPET to capture nociception induced hemodynamic responses and metabolic features in the rodent brain. To better improve the quality of the results, the development of a novel image analysis platform is also incorporated. The study of nociception in small animal, along with continued expansion of advanced biomedical imaging techniques in the post-genomic era nowadays, have been crucial in the drive toward healthcare optimization that allows linking preclinical pain studies and clinical issues within living subjects.
Subjects
Pain
fMRI
PET
SDGs
Type
thesis
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