Attentional impairments are seen in many clinical syndromes, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer disease. Understanding the mechanism of attention can be helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. The aim of this study was to assess brain glucose metabolic changes in a rat model of attention.
Methods: Small-animal PET studies were performed at 4 stages. Statistical parametric mapping was used for image analysis.
Results: Increased (18)F-FDG uptake was found in the lateral hypothalamic area and left accumbens nucleus in the learning condition. Under the attentive condition, increased (18)F-FDG uptake was observed in the right retrosplenial cortex but (18)F-FDG uptake was decreased in the right medial geniculate nucleus. (18)F-FDG uptake change in the right retrosplenial cortex was negatively correlated with correct latency of behavior performance.
Conclusion: (18)F-FDG small-animal PET imaging provided novel findings on attention-related glucose metabolic changes, which were significantly correlated with the behavior performance in this rat model.
Keywords: 18F-FDG; attention; neurology; positron emission tomography (PET); rat model.