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Magnetic resonance imaging of tissue and vascular layers in the cat retina
Author(s) -
Shen Qiang,
Cheng Haiying,
Pardue Machelle T.,
Chang Thomas F.,
Nair Govind,
Vo Van Toi,
Shonat Ross D.,
Duong Timothy Q.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.20549
Subject(s) - retina , ganglion cell layer , retinal , materials science , effective diffusion coefficient , magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance , biomedical engineering , medicine , optics , physics , ophthalmology , radiology
Purpose To report the visual resolution of multiple cell and vascular “layers” in the cat retina using MRI. Materials and Methods T 2 ‐ and diffusion‐weighted MRI at 4.7 Tesla was performed. Layer‐specific thickness, T 2 , spin density, apparent diffusion coefficient perpendicular (ADC ⟂ ) and parallel (ADC ∥ ) to the retinal surface were tabulated. T 1 ‐weighted MRI was acquired before and after intravenous administration of Gd‐DTPA and subtraction images were obtained. Histology was performed for validation. Results Three distinct “layers” were observed. The inner strip nearest to the vitreous (exhibiting large T 2 , ADC, spin density with Gd‐DTPA enhancement) overlapped the ganglion cell layer, bipolar cell layer, and the embedded retinal vascular layer. The middle strip (exhibiting small T 2 , ADC, spin density without Gd‐DTPA enhancement) overlapped the photoreceptor cell layer and the inner and outer segments. The outer strip (exhibiting large T 2 , ADC, spin density with Gd‐DTPA enhancement) overlapped the tapetum and choroidal vascular layer. T 2 , spin density, ADC ⟂ and ADC ∥ of different “layers” were tabulated. The inner strip was slightly thicker than the other two strips. The total thickness, including neural and nonneural retina, was 358 ± 13μm ( N = 6) by MRI and 319 ± 77 μm ( N = 5) by histology. Conclusion MRI provides a noninvasive tool to study the retina with laminar specificity without depth limitation. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2006. Published 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.