Differential effects of aquaporin-4 channel inhibition on BOLD fMRI and diffusion fMRI responses in mouse visual cortex

PLoS One. 2020 May 21;15(5):e0228759. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228759. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

The contribution of astrocytes to the BOLD fMRI and DfMRI responses in visual cortex of mice following visual stimulation was investigated using TGN-020, an aquaporin 4 (AQP4) channel blocker, acting as an astrocyte function perturbator. Under TGN-020 injection the amplitude of the BOLD fMRI response became significantly higher. In contrast no significant changes in the DfMRI responses and the electrophysiological responses were observed. Those results further confirm the implications of astrocytes in the neurovascular coupling mechanism underlying BOLD fMRI, but not in the DfMRI responses which remained unsensitive to astrocyte function perturbation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aquaporin 4 / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Astrocytes / cytology
  • Astrocytes / metabolism*
  • Brain Mapping / methods*
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Niacinamide / analogs & derivatives
  • Niacinamide / pharmacology
  • Thiadiazoles / pharmacology
  • Visual Cortex / physiology*

Substances

  • 2-(nicotinamide)-1,3,4-thiadiazole
  • Aqp4 protein, mouse
  • Aquaporin 4
  • Thiadiazoles
  • Niacinamide

Grants and funding

This work was supported by postdoctoral fellowship from the Uehara Memorial Foundation in Japan (YK) and by the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine from the Louis-Jeantet Foundation (DLB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.