Abstract #2121

Miyasaka N, Nagaoka T, Duong T, Ogawa S, Kennan R

This study extended the rat somatosensory stimulation model for dynamic imaging of neural network of the entire brain. We reported robust activations in the contra-lateral somatosensory cortex, bilateral striatum, bilateral thalamus and bilateral reticular formation, not previously possible. The BOLD fMRI signal changes (in the contralateral hemisphere) were 9.8%, 1.4%, 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively. The ability to detect activations in sub-cortical nuclei and higher brain functions beyond the commonly reported primary somatosensory cortices could have many important applications, include the opportunity to study neural network of the entire brain and fMRI evaluation in stroke where injury often covers subcortical regions.