title: Transcutaneous cisternal puncture for sampling of cerebrospinal fluid in awake rat.
abstract: Reported cisternal puncture methods require the anesthetization and fixation of an animal within a stereotaxic frame. To determine the effect of anesthesia and animal fixation on the central nervous system (CNS), amino acid concentrations of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampled by transcutaneous cisternal puncture were compared among awake rats, pentobarbital-anesthetized rats and pentobarbital-anesthetized rats fixed in a stereotaxic frame. Although the concentrations of many amino acids in the CSF of pentobarbital-anesthetized rats were lower than in awake rats, use of the stereotaxic frame resulted in significantly increased amino acid concentrations in the CSF. These data indicate that CSF sampling by transcutaneous cisternal puncture from awake rats is a suitable method for serial measurement of drug effects on the CNS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takasugi
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirai
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Futagawa
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koga
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Egawa
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Umeda
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D000758:Anesthesia; D000818:Animals; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D002946:Cisterna Magna; D008297:Male; D010424:Pentobarbital; D010600:Pharmacology / Q000379:methods*; D011677:Punctures / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D014851:Wakefulness
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D010424:Pentobarbital