Nathalie
Just1,2, Hanne Frenkel3, Rolf Gruetter3,4
1LIFMET, CIBM, EPFL, Lausanne,
Switzerland; 2Department of Radiology, UNIL, Lausanne,
Switzerland; 3LIFMET, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland; 4Department
of Radiology, UNIL and HUG, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland
The
present study examined the BOLD fMRI
response of the rat barrel cortex upon sustained trigeminal nerve stimulation.
Moreover, the alterations in the barrel cortex metabolite concentration due
to prolonged functional activation were measured using 1H-MRS at 9.4T. The
results demonstrate that sustained BOLD responses can be obtained
reproducibly in the rat barrel cortex following prolonged trigeminal nerve
stimulation. Furthermore, preliminary functional MRS (fMRS) results show
changes in several metabolites in the barrel cortex and in particular an
increase in lactate levels during barrel cortex activation.