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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
Assessing Changes in Volatile General Anesthetic Sensitivity of Mice after Local or Systemic Pharmacological Intervention
Published on: October 16, 2013
Isoflurane anesthesia is a valuable alternative for alpha-chloralose anesthesia in the forepaw stimulation model in
Mathieu G Sommers1, Jan van Egmond, Leo H D J Booij
1Central Animal Laboratory, Radboud University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 231 CDL, NL-6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. M.Sommers@cdl.umcn.nl
Abstract:
Isoflurane (ISO) can be a valuable alternative for alpha-chloralose (ACL) anesthesia in functional MRI (fMRI) studies. Therefore, we compared the efficacy of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) effect in fMRI studies during ISO and ACL anesthesia sequentially in the same animals. After non-invasive instrumentation for ventilation and monitoring, series of T2* weighted MR images were acquired during forepaw stimulation, first under ISO, then followed by ACL anesthesia. The results demonstrated that ISO and ACL were both suitable to perform this fMRI experiment. The center of activation was at the same stereotactic position for both anesthetics and matched the primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Under the applied conditions, the BOLD response during ISO anesthesia declined in magnitude during the first stimulation period, as compared to ACL. From this study, we conclude that since ISO has several positive properties in comparison to ACL, including fast pharmacokinetics and suitability for repeated measurements, it is a valuable alternative for anesthesia in fMRI studies of rats.
