title: Real-time imaging of brain activity in freely moving rats using functional ultrasound.
abstract: Innovative imaging methods help to investigate the complex relationship between brain activity and behavior in freely moving animals. Functional ultrasound (fUS) is an imaging modality suitable for recording cerebral blood volume (CBV) dynamics in the whole brain but has so far been used only in head-fixed and anesthetized rodents. We designed a fUS device for tethered brain imaging in freely moving rats based on a miniaturized ultrasound probe and a custom-made ultrasound scanner. We monitored CBV changes in rats during various behavioral states such as quiet rest, after whisker or visual stimulations, and in a food-reinforced operant task. We show that fUS imaging in freely moving rats could efficiently decode brain activity in real time.
authors.affiliation: UMRS 894 INSERM Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|Optogenetics and Brain Imaging, Stroke Research Team, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.affiliation: UMRS 894 INSERM Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|Optogenetics and Brain Imaging, Stroke Research Team, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dussaux
authors.affiliation: UMRS 894 INSERM Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martel
authors.affiliation: UMRS 894 INSERM Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|Optogenetics and Brain Imaging, Stroke Research Team, Paris, France.|Sanofi Research and Development, Lead Generation to Candidate Realization, Chilly-Mazarin, France.
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.affiliation: Neural Circuit Laboratories, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mace
authors.affiliation: UMRS 894 INSERM Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|Optogenetics and Brain Imaging, Stroke Research Team, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Montaldo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003199:Computer Systems; D004453:Echoencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008904:Miniaturization; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity