R. Matthew Hutchison1,2, Seyed M. Mirsattari3,
Craig K. Jones4, Joseph S. Gati1, L. Stan Leung5
1Robarts Research Institute, University
of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 2Graduate Program in
Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 3Clinical
Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario; 4F.M. Kirby
Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore,
MD, United States; 5Physiology and Pharmacology, University of
Western Ontario
This
work is an examination of the spatio-temporal dynamics of low-frequency
hemodynamic fluctuations of the anesthetized rat brain. Applying independent
component analysis to baseline BOLD fMRI timecourses, synchronous bilateral
cortical and subcortical networks were observed including: primary and
secondary somatosensory cortices; motor cortices; striate cortices; posterior
and anterior cingulate; hippocampi; caudate putamen; and thalamic nuclei.
Networks were preserved under two different anesthetic regimes: isoflurane
and ketamine/xylazine. This technique has allowed a complete exploration of
the resting networks in the rat brain that was not afforded by previously
used correlational techniques that have been used for rat imaging.