ABSTRACT
For successful imaging of live, small animals, several basic issues must be addressed, regardless of the specific experimental goals. To begin with, the animal must be restrained from making gross body movements that would degrade image quality; this is usually accomplished by using drugs such as anesthetics and sedatives. This chapter considers the possible solutions to these problems of handling small animals for in vivo imaging. Relatively few drugs are commonly used for chemical restraint of rodents during survival imaging studies. The selection of agents we discuss is based partly on availability, ease of use, chemical stability, lack of carcinogenicity, relative safety, and cost. Assessing the level of anesthesia is a difficult and critical issue. Ideally, depth of anesthesia for restraint during imaging should be just sufficient to keep the animal nonreactive to the environment. The difficulty is in judging the level of anesthesia to achieve this nonreactive state and not unsafely exceeding it.
