System acquires images from mobile mice

Scientists use dynamic imaging of mice to follow changes in brain chemistry caused by the progression of disease or the application of a drug as an effective research tool for developing better ways to diagnose disease and formulate better treatments.

In many nuclear imaging studies, laboratory mice are typically drugged or bound in place so that their brains can be studied. However, the results of such research can be tainted by subjecting the mice to such chemical or physical restraints, complicating studies of Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

For their nuclear medicine imaging studies, the researchers - from the US Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Medical School and the University of Maryland - used a new system they developed to acquire functional images of the brains of conscious, unrestrained and un-anesthetised mice.

The so-called AwakeSPECT system was then used to document for the first time the effects of anaesthesia on the action of a dopamine transporter imaging compound in the mouse brain. Such dopamine transporter imaging compounds are used for Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s disease studies.