title: Assessment of regional cerebral blood flow by xenon-enhanced computed tomography during mastication in humans.
abstract: It is suggested that mastication stimulates the brain and accelerates its energy-consuming metabolism. This study was designed to determine its effects on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) using xenon-enhanced computed tomography (Xe-CT). Seven male volunteers, aged 24-57 years, inhaled 30% xenon in a 4 minutes wash-in and 4 minutes wash-out protocol. CT was scanned every 54.5 seconds. The subjects were instructed to chew a gum continuously at a rate of 1 bite per second except at the time of CT scanning (5.5 seconds). A second CBF was done 20 minutes later. Subtraction (mastication-baseline) maps were created. CT images were taken at three levels so as to include the cortex, basal ganglia, limbic system, brainstem and cerebellum. The results demonstrated a significant rCBF increase in the fronto-temporal cortex, caudate nucleus, thalamus and minor increase in the rolandic areas, insula, cingulate and cerebellum. Further studies are needed to validate the clinical significance of these findings.
authors.affiliation: Pellegrin Hospital, University of Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sesay
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lecaroz
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: De Beaufort
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D014978:Xenon
chemical_list: D014978:Xenon