Back
Acta Physiologica 2009; Volume 195, Supplement 670
Belgian Society for Fundamental and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology, Spring Meeting 2009
3/7/2009-3/7/2009
Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
EFFECT OF HIPPOCAMPAL DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION ON BLOOD PERFUSION EVALUATED BY SPECT
Abstract number: P-12
Van Nieuwenhuyse1 B., Wyckhuys1 T., Raedt1 R., Meurs1 A., Van Dycke1 A., El Tahry1 R., Vonck1 K., Wadman2 W., Deleye3 S., Staelens3 S., Boon1 P.
1Laboratory for Clinical and Experimental Neurophysiology, Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
2Swammerdam Institute of Life Sciences, Department of Neurobiology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3Medical Image and Signal Processing Group, Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Purpose:
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder, affecting 0.5–1% of the population. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy remains one of the most difficult to treat forms of epilepsy, as one third of all patients remains refractory to anti-epileptic drugs. Hippocampal deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising experimental approach to treat TLE. However, the precise mechanism of action is unknown and may possibly hamper the therapeutic potential of DBS. Neuro-imaging by means of Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is a non-invasive manner of evaluating regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes, which are assumed to reflect changes in neural activity that are induced by DBS.
Methods:
Rats (n=6) were implanted with a DBS electrode in the right hippocampus. After recovery from surgery, rats received multiple injections with 10mCi HMPAO-Tc99m either during application of hippocampal DBS or during sham stimulation. Consequently, the rats were anesthetized with isoflurane and small animal SPECT scans of the brain were taken and manually co-registered with MRI images of the same rats. Acquired mSPECT images were evaluated by means of subtraction analysis between DBS and sham stimulated brain images.
Results:
Unilateral hippocampal DBS caused significant changes in rCBF, both ipsi- and contralaterally to the DBS electrode. The changes in rCBF were seen in structures important in seizure control such as hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, piriform cortex. Additionally, the amplitude and extension of the induced rCBF changes could be correlated with different stimulation paradigms.
Conclusion:
Small animal SPECT is a feasible technique to visualize significant increases and decreases in regional cerebral blood flow caused by hippocampal DBS. Changes in blood perfusion were mainly associated with structures involved in seizure control. Our results promote further research on DBS using small animal SPECT in rats.
To cite this abstract, please use the following information:
Acta Physiologica 2009; Volume 195, Supplement 670 :P-12