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Errico C, Osmanski BF, Pezet S, Couture O, Lenkei Z, Tanter M. Transcranial functional ultrasound imaging of the brain using microbubble-enhanced ultrasensitive Doppler. Neuroimage 2015; 124:752-761. [PMID: 26416649 PMCID: PMC4686564 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2015] [Revised: 08/13/2015] [Accepted: 09/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional ultrasound (fUS) is a novel neuroimaging technique, based on high-sensitivity ultrafast Doppler imaging of cerebral blood volume, capable of measuring brain activation and connectivity in rodents with high spatiotemporal resolution (100 μm, 1 ms). However, the skull attenuates acoustic waves, so fUS in rats currently requires craniotomy or a thinned-skull window. Here we propose a non-invasive approach by enhancing the fUS signal with a contrast agent, inert gas microbubbles. Plane-wave illumination of the brain at high frame rate (500 Hz compounded sequence with three tilted plane waves, PRF = 1500Hz with a 128 element 15 MHz linear transducer), yields highly-resolved neurovascular maps. We compared fUS imaging performance through the intact skull bone (transcranial fUS) versus a thinned-skull window in the same animal. First, we show that the vascular network of the adult rat brain can be imaged transcranially only after a bolus intravenous injection of microbubbles, which leads to a 9 dB gain in the contrast-to-tissue ratio. Next, we demonstrate that functional increase in the blood volume of the primary sensory cortex after targeted electrical-evoked stimulations of the sciatic nerve is observable transcranially in presence of contrast agents, with high reproducibility (Pearson's coefficient ρ = 0.7 ± 0.1, p = 0.85). Our work demonstrates that the combination of ultrafast Doppler imaging and injection of contrast agent allows non-invasive functional brain imaging through the intact skull bone in rats. These results should ease non-invasive longitudinal studies in rodents and open a promising perspective for the adoption of highly resolved fUS approaches for the adult human brain. We combined ultrafast sensitive Doppler with contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging. We retrieved highly-resolved neurovascular transcranial maps with contrast agents. The presence of microbubbles compensates for the attenuation from the skull. fUS is sensitive to the local hyperemia in the rat brain through the skull with microbubbles. Transcranial fUS imaging allows non-invasive functional brain studies in rodents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Errico
- INSERM, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; ESPCI ParisTech, PSL Research University, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; CNRS, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Bruno-Félix Osmanski
- INSERM, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; ESPCI ParisTech, PSL Research University, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; CNRS, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Sophie Pezet
- CNRS, UMR 8249, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France; Brain Plasticity Unit, ESPCI-ParisTech, PSL Research University 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Olivier Couture
- INSERM, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; ESPCI ParisTech, PSL Research University, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; CNRS, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Zsolt Lenkei
- CNRS, UMR 8249, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France; Brain Plasticity Unit, ESPCI-ParisTech, PSL Research University 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Mickael Tanter
- INSERM, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; ESPCI ParisTech, PSL Research University, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France; CNRS, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France.
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Sieu LA, Bergel A, Tiran E, Deffieux T, Pernot M, Gennisson JL, Tanter M, Cohen I. EEG and functional ultrasound imaging in mobile rats. Nat Methods 2015; 12:831-4. [PMID: 26237228 PMCID: PMC4671306 DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.3506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Accepted: 06/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We developed an integrated experimental framework that extends the brain exploration capabilities of functional ultrasound imaging to awake and mobile rats. In addition to acquiring hemodynamic data, this method further allows parallel access to electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of neuronal activity. We illustrate this approach with two proofs of concept: a behavioral study on theta rhythm activation in a maze running task and a disease-related study on spontaneous epileptic seizures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lim-Anna Sieu
- Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, INSERM U1130, CNRS UMR 8246, University Pierre et Marie Curie UMCR18, Paris, France
- Institut des Neurosciences Translationnelles de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Antoine Bergel
- Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, INSERM U1130, CNRS UMR 8246, University Pierre et Marie Curie UMCR18, Paris, France
- Ecole Doctorale Frontières du Vivant (FdV), Programme Bettencourt, Universite´ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite´, Paris, France
| | - Elodie Tiran
- Institut Langevin, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris ParisTech, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, CNRS UMR 7587, INSERM U979, Paris, France
| | - Thomas Deffieux
- Institut Langevin, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris ParisTech, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, CNRS UMR 7587, INSERM U979, Paris, France
| | - Mathieu Pernot
- Institut Langevin, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris ParisTech, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, CNRS UMR 7587, INSERM U979, Paris, France
| | - Jean-Luc Gennisson
- Institut Langevin, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris ParisTech, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, CNRS UMR 7587, INSERM U979, Paris, France
| | - Mickaël Tanter
- Institut Langevin, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris ParisTech, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, CNRS UMR 7587, INSERM U979, Paris, France
| | - Ivan Cohen
- Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, INSERM U1130, CNRS UMR 8246, University Pierre et Marie Curie UMCR18, Paris, France
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