Meeting between Gill and Nisha, Thursday 14th December 2017

Gill met with Nisha to discuss her upcoming methods paper and the conceptual figures it may require. The paper is nearing completion, with just the data results section to be finalised. The paper will discuss whether intranasal delivery is a viable method for the administration of PET tracers, comparing this with intravenous delivery in rats. The results will then be extrapolated to a human model.

There will probably be two conceptual figures. The first figure will be the most important and will represent the administration of the PET tracer to a rat. This figure  will include a rat’s head, highlighting the nasal cavity and brain, and possibly some nerves, to show the possible routes from nose to brain. The method of intranasal administration, using a syringe and cannula, will also be shown. An associated image of a whole rat, probably at a smaller scale, will be used to show the method of intravenous administration and the collection of blood samples, via the femoral artery and vein. The second figure will show the extrapolation of the experimental results from the rat to the human, with representations of the rat brain and a phantom human brain to demonstrate the locations of the PET tracer in the brains.

Gill intends to produce a range of visual elements that can be used to build up the conceptual figures. These elements will include: mid-sagittal section of a rat head; rat nasal cavity; rat brain; olfactory and trigeminal nerves of a rat; syringe with cannula; whole rat in variety of poses; phantom human brain. Gill will attempt to produce a series of detailed images, which can then be simplified and adapted for use in this paper and also for subsequent publications / presentations.