The assessment of brain functional alterations due to drug abuse/addiction with p

描述（由申请人提供）：对小动物大脑中药物滥用/成瘾诱导的神经适应进行非侵入性成像的能力提供了在快速时间范围内以改进的分辨率评价病理进展的机会。光声成像（派）是一种新兴的技术，用于成像光学特性之一>吸收>，同时在高达5 cm深的区域保持高分辨率。派已成功地应用于非侵入性地显示许多不同生物组织的结构，具有令人满意的灵敏度和空间分辨率。目前的研究目的是应用派在体内小动物实验中检测由于药物滥用引起的脑激活。长期目标是开发派作为一种方便，低成本，非侵入性的替代成像方法来评估由于药物滥用/成瘾引起的大脑变化，以及在某些情况下为fMRI和PET提供补充信息。具体来说，在这个建议中，我们将采用派检测可卡因引起的小动物脑功能改变。本研究的具体目的包括：（1）开发和优化适合于小动物全脑成像的派系统;（2）进行小动物可卡因致脑功能改变的检测实验，并将派图像与fMRI图像进行比较。本研究旨在探讨派检测小动物脑功能变化的可行性和可靠性。公共卫生相关性：在这项研究中，我们应用新的光声成像（派）检测药物滥用/成瘾引起的脑功能改变。为此目的，将构建和优化全脑派系统。该项目的成功将为药物滥用/成瘾领域的研究人员提供一种替代的、基于光学对比的成像方式，其成本显著低于fMRI和PET。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to image the neuroadaptations induced by drug abuse/addiction in small animal brains noninvasively offers the opportunity to evaluate pathologic progression in a fast time frame with an improved resolution. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is an emerging technology to image one of the optical properties>absorption>while maintaining high resolutions in regions up to 5 cm deep. PAI has been successfully applied on noninvasively visualizing the structures of a number of different biological tissues with satisfactory sensitivity and spatial resolution. The objective of current research is to apply PAI to detect the activation of the brain due to drug abuse in in vivo small animal experiments. The long term goal is to develop PAI as a convenient, low cost, noninvasive alternative imaging method to assess brain alternations due to drug abuse/addiction, as well as to provide complementing information to fMRI and PET in some cases. Specifically, in this proposal, we will employ PAI to detect brain function alternation caused by cocaine in small animals. The specific aims of this study include (1) develop and optimize a PAI system suitable for small animal whole brain imaging; (2) perform experiments to detect small animal brain function alternations due to the cocaine use, and compare PAI images with fMRI images. During this research, both the feasibility and the reliability of PAI on the detection of small animal brain functional alternations will be explored. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: In this study, we apply the novel photoacoustic imaging (PAI) to the detection of brain functional alternations induced by drug abuse/addiction. A whole brain PAI system will be built and optimized for this purpose. The success of this project will provide an alternative, optical-contrast-based imaging modality to investigators in the field of drug abuse/addiction at significantly lower cost than fMRI and PET.