Conscious rat PET imaging with soft immobilization for quantitation of brain functions: comprehensive assessment of anesthesia effects on cerebral blood flow and metabolism

Background Animal brain functions evaluated by in vivo imaging under anesthesia can be affected by anesthetic agents, resulting in incorrect assessment of physiological brain function. We therefore performed dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of conscious rats using recently reported soft immobilization to validate the efficacy of the immobilization for brain function assessments. We also determined the effects of six anesthetic...