Landau Lab

Methods/Models

Rodents and minipigs

Rats, mice and Göttingen minipigs, each chosen for what the question needs.

01 Rodents and minipigs

Choosing the model for the question

Rodents

Rats and mice let us combine imaging with detailed behavioural testing and tissue analyses in larger groups, and use genetic and pharmacological approaches to change a target directly.

Small-animal PET makes it possible to scan the same rat repeatedly — for example before and after a treatment — while autoradiography of the same models maps binding at high resolution.

Göttingen minipigs

Minipigs have larger, folded brains that can be scanned on clinical PET/CT systems, with arterial blood sampling for full quantification. In our [11C]UCB-J study, minipig VT values were closer to reported human values than those derived from rhesus monkeys.

Large-animal imaging raises its own methodological questions, and we have studied several of them directly:

  • How the choice of anaesthetic influences tracer binding
  • Automated arterial blood sampling for PET, and its risks for the animals
  • Quantitative gait analysis to measure motor function
Two pseudo-colour autoradiograms of minipig prefrontal cortex, labelled control and sucrose; the folded cortical ribbon shows more green and yellow in the control section and more blue in the sucrose section.
[3H]UCB-J autoradiography of minipig prefrontal cortex. After 12 days of daily sucrose, SV2A binding in this region was lower than in controls. The folded cortex of the minipig brain is visible in both sections; no calibrated colour scale is shown. Bærentzen SL, Thomsen MB, Alstrup AKO, Wegener G, Brooks DJ, Winterdahl M, Landau AM. Neuropharmacology 2024;256:110018 · doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.110018 · CC BY 4.0, cropped.
In vivoPETImaging the living brain over timeRead →Ex vivoAutoradiography & tissue analysesBinding on brain sections, at fine detailRead →Ex vivoReal-time autoradiographyHow the BeaQuant reads tritium tracers on brain sections in hoursRead →FunctionBehaviourWhat animals do, linked to molecular changeRead →OverviewMethods overviewHow the methods fit together, and selected methods papers.Back →