Brain damage resulting from cerebral ischemia may be non-invasively imaged and studied in rats using pre-clinical positron emission tomography coupled with the injectable radioactive probe, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose. Further, the use of modern software tools that include volume of interest (VOI) brain templates dramatically increase the quantitative information gleaned from these studies.
Balsara, R. D., Chapman, S. E., Sander, I. M., Donahue, D. L., Liepert, L., Castellino, F. J., Leevy, W. M. Non-invasive Imaging and Analysis of Cerebral Ischemia in Living Rats Using Positron Emission Tomography with 18F-FDG. J. Vis. Exp. (94), e51495, doi:10.3791/51495 (2014).