Magnetic resonance imaging to assess the brain response to fasting in glioblastoma-bearing rats as a model of cancer anorexia

Global energy balance is a vital process tightly regulated by the brain that frequently becomes dysregulated during the development of cancer. Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most investigated malignancies, but its appetite-related disorders, like anorexia/cachexia symptoms, remain poorly understood. We performed manganese enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) and subsequent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), in adult male GBM-bearing (n = 13) or control Wistar rats (n = 12). A generalized linear model approach was used to assess the effects of fasting in different brain regions involved in the regulation of the global energy metabolism: cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus. The regions were selected on the contralateral side in tumor-bearing animals, and on the left hemisphere in control rats. An additional DTI-only experiment was completed in two additional GBM (n = 5) or healthy cohorts (n = 6) to assess the effects of manganese infusion on diffusion measurements. MEMRI results showed lower T values in the cortex (p-value