Differential neurochemical responses in the rat striatum with isoflurane or ketamine/xylazine anesthesia: In vivo proton MRS

Introduction Since the small animal imaging generally requires anesthesia, anesthetic agents can induce unintended effects on animal physiology that may confound the results of imaging studies [1]. The use of isoflurane and ketamine/xylazine anesthesia is popular in imaging studies of laboratory animals. The striatum is the major input station of the basal ganglia system. It is involved in Parkinson's disease, Huntington’s disease, choreas, choreoathetosis and dyskinesias [2]. Recently, H-MRS studies of common and severe neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, etc.) have reported abnormal metabolite levels in the striatum (cudate and putamen nuclei) [3]. The purpose of this study was to evaluate alterations in striatum metabolites of rats between anesthetized with isoflurane and with ketamine/xylazine in proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS), and to investigate the appropriateness of anesthetic agents for H-MRS study.