Abstract #2399

Investigation of Hypothalamic Neuronal & Metabolic Mechanisms of Anorexia with Manganese-Enhanced MRI & Proton MR Spectroscopy

Nathalie Just^1,2, Rolf Gruetter^1,3

¹LIFMET, CIBM/EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland; ²Department of Radiology, UNIL, Lausanne, Switzerland; ³Department of Radiology, UNIL& HUG, Lausanne & Geneve, Switzerland

Assessment of hypothalamic response to dehydration induced anorexia (DIA) and overnight food suppression (OFS) in female rats by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) showed increased neuronal activity in the paraventricular nuclei (PVN) and the lateral hypothalamus (LH) of DIA relative to OFS. The effects of DIA and OFS were compared by generating t-score maps. Statistically significant increases of GABA were measured by 1H MRS at 14.1T in DIA and OFS (p<0.01) relative to controls. MEMRI coupled to MRS at high field is a promising non-invasive method to investigate the neural pathways and mechanisms involved in the control of food intake.