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Monitoring of acute axonal injury in the swine spinal cord with EAE by diffusion tensor imaging
Author(s) -
Feng Song,
Hong Yin,
Zhou Zhang,
JinSong Zhang,
XiaoFeng Dai,
ZaiZhong Wang,
YaLi Ge,
Ying Liu,
YingJuan Chang,
Yi Huan
Publication year - 2009
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.21825
Subject(s) - diffusion mri , medicine , multiple sclerosis , spinal cord , magnetic resonance imaging , pathology , encephalomyelitis , spinal cord injury , radiology , immunology , psychiatry
Purpose To evaluate the ability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to detect and monitor acute axonal injury in swine spinal cord with acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Materials and Methods Magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical spinal cord was performed in vivo at different time points through the onset and progression of EAE using a 3 Tesla clinical scanner. The DTI parameters were calculated in four separate regions of interest at the C2/C3 level. The quantitative DTI‐pathology and DTI‐clinical correlations were verified. Results In the monophasic acute course of EAE onset and progression, axial diffusivity (AD) decrease correlates with acute axonal injury (r = −0.84; P < 0.001). By contrast, radial diffusivity does not change and no demyelination in histopathology was detected. Moreover, a clear correlation between clinical disease and axial diffusivity was found in two swine EAE models (r = −0.86; P < 0.001 and r = −0.92; P < 0.001). Conclusion AD corresponds with axonal injury in the absence of demyelination and may be a useful noninvasive tool to investigate the underlying pathogenic processes of multiple sclerosis and to monitor the effects of experimental treatments for axonal injury. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;30:277–285. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.