PET In Conscious Rodents - Quantification of Stress During The Training Process

Recently several methods for performing PET studies in conscious rodents have been developed [1-3]. These methods have the potential to greatly improve the translational nature of PET studies
in rodents. One of the most easily implemented methods is the training of a rat to tolerate head fixation in a restraining device. Training consists of intervals of restraint over several days. However, the stress induced by this training procedure has not been quantified in detail. Limited changes in plasma corticosterone have been reported, but this data may be confounded by sample timing and baseline levels. An implantable telemetry system (Telemetry Research) was used to remotely measure blood pressure, heart rate and core temperature during training. Transmitters were implanted in the abdominal cavity under isoflurane anesthesia, with the blood pressure sensor fixed in the abdominal aorta. Training was started after a recovery period of at least 1 week. Training consisted of a 5 min period of acclimatization in the cage containing the restraining device, followed by increasing durations of restraint in the device on subsequent training days (15, 30, 45, 60, 90 min). Telemetry data was acquired from 5 min prior to acclimatization to 60 minutes post-training. In this initial pilot study, a single rat was trained, without head fixation, for 4 consecutive days and again on day 7. All reported values are mean ± SEM across the five training days. In the home cage, prior to acclimatization, baseline heart rate (HR) was 294 ± 15 bpm. During the acclimatization period, HR was elevated to 411 ± 7 bpm. Immediately after starting training, HR was 419 ± 16 bpm. During the training period HR showed a tendency to decrease, with raised periods at undefined intervals. After return to the home cage, HR remained elevated for 15-20 min before returning to a value (313 ± 9 bpm) close to baseline. A similar pattern was seen in blood pressure (mean; BP). Baseline BP was 76 ± 7 mmHg, increasing to 94 ± 9 mmHg during acclimatization. After commencing training, a peak in BP was reached at 102 ± 8 mmHg. After the 15-20 min recovery interval, BP returned to a baseline of 77 ± 9 mmHg. The HR and BP responses to acclimatization and to the training protocol persisted throughout all training days, with the main noticeable difference being the number of bouts of increased HR, which increased with training duration. Core body temperature (baseline: 37.45 ± 0.21 °C) increased during restraint training, with a subsequent post-training peak (38.21 ± 0.03 °C). Measurement of core temp is complicated during longer training sessions by the need to charge the transmitter. This early data indicates that stress induced by the training procedure for conscious PET persists after several days of training. In subsequent studies the head will be fixed and the effect of the training on plasma corticosterone and central glucose metabolism (using [18F]FDG) will be examined.
[1] Momosaki et al. (2004) Synapse 54:207–213
[2] Wyss et al. (2009) NeuroImage 48:339–347
[3] Itoh et al. (2009) J Nucl Med 50:749–756