Small Animal Imaging Core facility Antwerp
Examples of Biological Research: fish physiology and fish neuro physiology
Previous projects involves stress responses in fish assessed with MRS, MRI and fMRI:
• Non-invasive in vivo diffusion-weighted MRI of fish (carp) to study alteration in cellular water-and ion balance in different tissues under circumstances of stress and adaptation.
• Non-invasive in vivo MRI of the brain of the anoxia resistent Crucian carp to study alteration in oxygenation, blood flow and cellular water balance
• Activation of a sensorimotor pathway in response to a water temperature drop in a teleost fish.
Scale bar = 2.5mm
Activation at the nerve entrance (N) in carp brain following a 10°C temperature drop, as determined by blood oxygenation level dependent- weighted (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI).
(A) T2-weighted high-resolution spin echo image showing the complex (N) of trigeminal, facial, acoustic and anterior lateral line nerve extending from the brain.
(B) Average of the color coded percentual BOLD difference maps within the first 5 min after the onset of the temperature drop overlaid on the high resolution image. The brain region surrounding the entrance of the cranial nerves is transiently activated (blue, reduced BOLD signal intensities). Some increase in BOLD signal intensities (red) can sometimes be observed in other brain regions.
• Brain responses to ambient temperature fluctuations in fish: reduction of blood volume and initiation of a whole-body stress response.
• Ammonia affects brain nitrogen metabolism but not hydration status in the Gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta).
• The strengths of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study environmental adaptational physiology in fish.
• Non-invasive in vivo 31P NMR spectroscopy at the lateral muscle of fish (carp) in order to investigate the physiological condition of the animal under circumstances of stress and adaptation.
Collaborations on fish physiology
Examples of Biological Research: fish physiology and fish neuro physiology
Previous projects involves stress responses in fish assessed with MRS, MRI and fMRI:
• Non-invasive in vivo diffusion-weighted MRI of fish (carp) to study alteration in cellular water-and ion balance in different tissues under circumstances of stress and adaptation.
- Water household of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) when submitted to an osmotic challenge as determined by diffusion-weighed MRI at 7T.
- Osmoregulation of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) when exposed to an osmotic challenge assessed in vivo and non-invasively by diffusion- and T2-weighed magnetic resonance imaging
• Non-invasive in vivo MRI of the brain of the anoxia resistent Crucian carp to study alteration in oxygenation, blood flow and cellular water balance
• Activation of a sensorimotor pathway in response to a water temperature drop in a teleost fish.
Scale bar = 2.5mm
Activation at the nerve entrance (N) in carp brain following a 10°C temperature drop, as determined by blood oxygenation level dependent- weighted (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI).
(A) T2-weighted high-resolution spin echo image showing the complex (N) of trigeminal, facial, acoustic and anterior lateral line nerve extending from the brain.
(B) Average of the color coded percentual BOLD difference maps within the first 5 min after the onset of the temperature drop overlaid on the high resolution image. The brain region surrounding the entrance of the cranial nerves is transiently activated (blue, reduced BOLD signal intensities). Some increase in BOLD signal intensities (red) can sometimes be observed in other brain regions.
• Brain responses to ambient temperature fluctuations in fish: reduction of blood volume and initiation of a whole-body stress response.
• Ammonia affects brain nitrogen metabolism but not hydration status in the Gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta).
• The strengths of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study environmental adaptational physiology in fish.
• Non-invasive in vivo 31P NMR spectroscopy at the lateral muscle of fish (carp) in order to investigate the physiological condition of the animal under circumstances of stress and adaptation.
- REVIEW : Recovery of the energy metabolism after a hypoxic challenge at different temperature conditions : a 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy study with common carp.
- Salt stress and resistance to hypoxic challenges in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)
Collaborations on fish physiology
- Research group for Ecophysiology and Biochemistry - Ronny Blust (Antwerp, Belgium) (e-mail)
- Organismal Animal Physiology - Gert Flik (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
- School of Biological Sciences - Lynne U. Sneddon (Liverpool, United Kingdom)
- Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center - Patrick J.Walsh (Miami, Florida, USA)
- Goran Nilsson
- Integrative Behavioural Biology Group - Rui Oliveira (Lisbon, Portugal)
