Abstract #0800

Sanganahalli B, Herman P, Hyder F

Functional brain imaging in animals provides an essential platform for investigating mechanisms of neurometabolic-neurovascular coupling and to understand the BOLD response. While α-chloralose has become the popular anesthetic of choice for functional studies in rodents, prior to the treatment of this drug a variety of volatile agents are used during the surgical preparation phase of the experiment. Here we demonstrated the time dependent (i.e., baseline) effects on BOLD response and neuronal firing using rat forepaw model under α-chloralose by using three volatile induction agents (halothane, isoflurane, enflurane). Graded increase in BOLD and neuronal firing was observed with time.