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Abstract #0713

Simultaneous FMRI and Local Field Potential Measurements of Epileptic Seizures in Medetomidine Sedated and Awake Rats

Antti Markku Airaksinen1, Shahryar Khan Hekmatyar2, Neil Jerome2, Juha-Pekka Niskanen1,3, Asla Pitkanen4,5, Risto A. Kauppinen2, Olli Grohn1

1Department of Neurobiology, A.I.Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; 2Dartmouth Medical School, Biomedical NMR Research Center, Hanover, NH, United States; 3Department of Physics, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; 4Department of Neurobiology, Epilepsy Research Laboratory, A.I.Virtanen Institute, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; 5Department of Neurology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland


Simultaneous LFP and fMRI measurements were performed during kainic acid (KA) induced seizures in awake and medetomidine anesthetized rats. The recurrent epileptic seizures were detected in the LFP signal after KA injection and robust BOLD responses were observed in the hippocampus both in awake and sedated animals. To determine basal CBF, ASL was performed showing the highest CBF values in isoflurane anesthetized rats and the lowest CBF under medetomidine sedation. We conclude that medetomidine sedation is suitable for studies of normal and abnormal brain activity, but lowered basal CBF level should be taken into account when interpreting the fMRI results.

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