Henning Matthias Reimann1, Jan Hentschel1, Babette Wagenhaus1, Andreas Pohlmann1, Thoralf Niendorf1, 2
1Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Max-Delbrck-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany; 2Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint cooperation between the Charit Medical Faculty and the Max-Delbrck-Center, Berlin, Germany
Only little is known about the temperature perception and regulation mechanisms in mammals. The combination of fMRI and genetic modifications in rodents has great potential to help elucidating the role of the various proteins involved in the underlying pathways. Here we demonstrate the successful adaptation of an MR-optimized thermo-stimulation system to mice fMRI, which is of particular interest considering the numerous transgenic strains used in biomedical research of thermal perception. Moreover this report is the first that demonstrates fMRI activations for cold stimuli in mice. Signal-to-noise ratio was enhanced by using a cryogenic RF probe. Based on the concepts and results reported here we anticipate to extend our fMRI explorations into temperature perception and regulation mechanisms in mice with the ultimate goal to characterize the cold sensing transient receptor potential channel TRPM8.