Anesthetics, widely used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies to avoid movement artifacts, could have profound effects on cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular coupling relative to the awake condition. Quantitative CBF and tissue oxygenation (blood oxygen level-dependent [BOLD]) were measured, using the continuous arterial-spin-labeling technique with echo-planar-imaging acquisition, in awake and anesthetized (2% isoflurane) rats under basal and hypercapnic conditions. All basal blood gases were within physiologic ranges. Blood pressure, respiration, and heart rates were within physiologic ranges in the awake condition but were depressed under anesthesia (P < 0.05). Regional CBF was heterogeneous with whole-brain CBF values of 0.86 +/- 0.25 and 1.27 +/- 0.29 mL. g-1. min-1 under awake and anesthetized conditions, respectively. Surprisingly, CBF was markedly higher (20% to 70% across different brain conditions) under isoflurane-anesthetized condition compared with the awake state (P < 0.01). Hypercapnia decreased pH, and increased Pco(2) and Po(2). During 5% CO(2) challenge, under awake and anesthetized conditions, respectively, CBF increased 51 +/- 11% and 25 +/- 4%, and BOLD increased 7.3 +/- 0.7% and 5.4 +/- 0.4%. During 10% CO(2) challenge, CBF increased 158 +/- 28% and 47 +/- 11%, and BOLD increased 12.5 +/- 0.9% and 7.2 +/- 0.5%. Since CBF and BOLD responses were substantially higher under awake condition whereas blood gases were not statistically different, it was concluded that cerebrovascular reactivity was suppressed by anesthetics. This study also shows that perfusion and perfusion-based functional MRI can be performed in awake animals.

This article presents a comprehensive taxonomy of essential competencies for program evaluators. First, the authors provide a rationale for developing evaluator competencies, along with a brief history of the initial development and validation of the taxonomy of essential evaluator competencies in King, Stevahn, Ghere, and Minnema (2001). Second, they present a revised version of that taxonomy and describe the revision process. Third, a crosswalk accompanying the taxonomy indicates which competencies address standards, principles, and skills endorsed by major evaluation associations in North America. Finally, the authors identify future needs related to the taxonomy, including the need for validation research, a shared understanding of terms, and the construction of descriptive rubrics for assessing competence.

Intrinsic connectional architecture of the brain is a crucial element in understanding the governing principle of brain organization. To date, enormous effort has been focused on addressing this issue in humans by combining resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) with other techniques. However, this research area is significantly underexplored in animals, perhaps due to confounding effects of anesthetic agents used in most animal experiments on functional connectivity. To bridge this gap, we have systematically investigated the intrinsic connectional architecture in the rodent brain by using a previously established awake animal imaging model. First, group independent component analysis was applied to the rsfMRI data to extract elementary functional clusters of the brain. The connectional relationships between these clusters evaluated by partial correlation analysis were then used to construct a graph of whole-brain neural network. This network exhibited typical features of small-worldness and strong community structures as shown in the human brain. Finally, the whole-brain network was segregated into community structures using a graph-based analysis. The results of this work provided a functional ‘atlas’ of intrinsic connectional architecture of the rat brain at both intra- and inter-region levels. More importantly, the current work revealed that functional networks in rats are organized in a non-trivial manner and conserved fundamental topological properties as the human brain. Given the high psychopathological relevance of network organization of the brain, this study demonstrated the feasibility to study mechanisms and therapies of multiple neurological and psychiatric diseases through translational research.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conscious animals is evolving as a critical tool for neuroscientists. The present study explored the effectiveness of an acclimation procedure in minimizing the stress experienced by the animal as assessed by alterations in physiological parameters including heart rate, respiratory rate, and serum corticosterone levels. Results confirm that as the stress of the protocol is minimized, there is a significant decrease in head movements and enhancement in data quality. The feasibility of improving the quality of fMRI data acquired in alert rats by utilizing a relatively simple technique is presented.

The neural mechanism of unconsciousness has been a major unsolved question in neuroscience despite its vital role in brain states like coma and anesthesia. The existing literature suggests that neural connections, information integration and conscious states are closely related. Indeed, alterations in several important neural circuitries and networks during unconscious conditions have been reported. However, how the whole-brain network is topologically reorganized to support different patterns of information transfer at unconscious states remains unknown. Here we directly compared whole-brain neural networks in an awake and an anesthetized state in rodents. Consistent with our previous report, the awake rat brain was organized in a non-trivial manner and conserved fundamental topological properties as the human brain. Strikingly, these topological features were well maintained in the anesthetized brain. Meanwhile, local neural networks were reorganized with altered local network properties. The connectional strength between brain regions was also considerably different between the awake and anesthetized conditions. Interestingly, we found that long-distance connections were not preferentially reduced in the anesthetized condition, arguing against the hypothesis that loss of long-distance connections is characteristic to unconsciousness. These findings collectively show that the integrity of the whole-brain network can be conserved between widely dissimilar physiologic states while local neural networks can flexibly adapt to new conditions. They also illustrate that the governing principles of intrinsic brain organization might represent fundamental characteristics of the healthy brain. With the unique spatial and temporal scales of rsfMRI, this study has opened a new avenue for understanding the neural mechanism of (un)consciousness.