Markus
Friedrich Hildenbrand1, Stephan Nauroth2, Xavier Helluy1,
Philipp Moerchel3, Angelika Schmitt2, Klaus-Peter Lesch2
1Research Center Magnetic Resonance
Bavaria (MRB), Wuerzburg, Germany; 2Department of Psychiatry,
University of Wuerzburg, Germany; 3Department of Experimental
Physics 5, University of Wuerzburg, Germany
For
psychiatric disorders being a worldwide strain to individuals and the health
care systems and still being without comprehensive therapies, the mouse as
model organism is a very promising research approach. Based on the
development of a 17.6T ultra-high field BOLD-fMRI method for targeting the
amygdala in the mouse brain, an access to serotonin mediated psychiatric
diseases has been accomplished. By the usage of predator odor the activation
of the amygdala shows a high sensitivity and specificity which yields a very
good observation of the location and time devolution of the stimulus in the
amygdala over a specified time period.
Keywords