MRI-guided disruption of the blood-brain barrier using transcranial focused ultrasound in a rat model

Focused ultrasound (FUS) disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an increasingly investigated technique for circumventing the BBB(1-5). The BBB is a significant obstacle to pharmaceutical treatments of brain disorders as it limits the passage of molecules from the vasculature into the brain t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of visualized experiments 2012-03 (61)
Main Authors: O'Reilly, Meaghan A, Waspe, Adam C, Chopra, Rajiv, Hynynen, Kullervo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Blood-Brain Barrier - diagnostic imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - instrumentation
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Medicine
Microbubbles
Rats
Transducers
Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial - instrumentation
Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial - methods
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Summary:Focused ultrasound (FUS) disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an increasingly investigated technique for circumventing the BBB(1-5). The BBB is a significant obstacle to pharmaceutical treatments of brain disorders as it limits the passage of molecules from the vasculature into the brain tissue to molecules less than approximately 500 Da in size(6). FUS induced BBB disruption (BBBD) is temporary and reversible(4) and has an advantage over chemical means of inducing BBBD by being highly localized. FUS induced BBBD provides a means for investigating the effects of a wide range of therapeutic agents on the brain, which would not otherwise be deliverable to the tissue in sufficient concentration. While a wide range of ultrasound parameters have proven successful at disrupting the BBB(2,5,7), there are several critical steps in the experimental procedure to ensure successful disruption with accurate targeting. This protocol outlines how to achieve MRI-guided FUS induced BBBD in a rat model, with a focus on the critical animal preparation and microbubble handling steps of the experiment.
ISSN:1940-087X
1940-087X
DOI:10.3791/3555