High-Throughput Manganese Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Newborn Rabbits for Olfactory Response to Nitric Oxide Stimulus

Yirong Yang¹, Alexander Drobyshevsky¹, Xinhai Ji¹, Lei Yu¹, Sidhartha Tan¹

Different nitric oxide (NO) level in olfactory nerves may affect the activity of neurons. Mn2+ will move along appropriate neuronal pathways in an anterograde direction. The function of olfactory neurons can be monitored in vivo by manganese enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI). To observe manganese enhanced process, MRI experiments need several hours or even several days. Therefore, multi animal imaging strategy is needed to provide an efficient way to perform experiments and acquire data with enough statistical power. This abstract presents a high-throughput MEMRI method to determine whether nitric oxide can affect olfactory neuronal function in newborn rabbits.