FUNCTIONAL BRAIN IMAGING IN BABOONS

Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio TX

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Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We are conducting PET imaging of baboons to quantify individual differences in regional brain activity during and after a behavioral challenge. The baboons will be housed overnight in single cages, at SNPRC, and then transported while conscious to the Research Imaging Center at UTHSC-SA. Transportation will be by SNPRC van. This experience of riding in the van will be mildly stressful to the animals, and we will quantify individual differences in brain metabolism in the amygdala, prefrontal cortex and other regions of the brain once they arrive at the imaging center. Study subjects will be chosen from among animals already tested for response to novelty in a previous study. Therefore, we will be able to select some animals that score as highly reactivity to novelty and others that are more stable and less reactive behaviorally. This will allow us to determine which brain regions show the greatest variance in metabolic activity in response to this transportation challenge, and which brain regions show strong correlations between metabolic activation during challenge and behavioral responses to novelty.