Abstract
Pharmacological MRI (phMRI) studies utilize dynamic imaging methods to observe the drug induced hemodynamic response. Conventionally, the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) was obtained from the time-intensity curve after administration of iron oxide nanoparticles, and the synaptic function provoked by pharmaceutical compounds can be estimated. However, for drug-addiction investigation, absolute quantification of phMRI could benefit inter-subject comparison and longitudinal follow-up. In this study, we aim to combine a modified Vascular-Space Occupancy (VASO) method and the phMRI technique to acquire high-resolution multi-slice absolute quantification of cerebral blood volume (aCBV), and applied for methamphetamine (mAMPH) challenged phMRI on a rat model.