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

描述（由申请人提供）：能够对小动物大脑中药物滥用/成瘾引起的神经适应进行无创成像，为快速评估病理进展提供了机会，并提高了分辨率。光声成像（PAI）是一种新兴的成像技术，它可以在5厘米深的区域内保持高分辨率，同时对吸收>的光学特性进行成像。PAI已成功地应用于许多不同生物组织的无创可视化，具有令人满意的灵敏度和空间分辨率。目前的研究目的是在体内小动物实验中应用PAI检测药物滥用引起的大脑激活。长期目标是将PAI发展成为一种方便、低成本、无创的替代成像方法，以评估药物滥用/成瘾导致的大脑变化，并在某些情况下为fMRI和PET提供补充信息。具体而言，在本提案中，我们将利用PAI检测可卡因引起的小动物脑功能变化。本研究的具体目的包括：(1)开发和优化适用于小动物全脑成像的PAI系统；(2)通过实验检测可卡因对小动物脑功能的影响，并将PAI图像与fMRI图像进行对比。本研究将探讨PAI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：在本研究中，我们将新型光声成像（PAI）应用于药物滥用/成瘾引起的脑功能改变的检测。为此将构建并优化全脑PAI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另一种基于光学对比的成像方式，其成本远低于功能磁共振成像和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.