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Postmortem delay does not change regional diffusion anisotropy characteristics in mouse spinal cord white matter
Author(s) -
Kim Joong Hee,
Trinkaus Kathryn,
Ozcan Alpay,
Budde Matthew D.,
Song ShengKwei
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
nmr in biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.278
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1099-1492
pISSN - 0952-3480
DOI - 10.1002/nbm.1138
Subject(s) - ex vivo , white matter , spinal cord , fractional anisotropy , in vivo , diffusion mri , fixation (population genetics) , spinal cord injury , anatomy , perfusion , chemistry , pathology , medicine , biology , magnetic resonance imaging , neuroscience , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , radiology , gene
It has been demonstrated previously that water diffusion anisotropy in vivo is equivalent to that observed ex vivo after perfusion fixation in the mouse brain. This finding supports the practice of ex vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurement on perfusion‐fixed tissues. However, the validity of extrapolating ex vivo DTI measurements from immersion‐fixed autopsy specimens to the in vivo state is questionable because of variable postmortem delays often encountered before fixation. In this study, we investigated the effect of postmortem delay on the water diffusion anisotropy of ventrolateral spinal cord white matter from mice. Mouse spinal cords, each from the same animal, were examined using DTI in vivo , in situ after death before fixation, and ex vivo immersion fixed 10 h after death. Our results suggest that diffusion anisotropy in mouse spinal cord is preserved up to 10 h after death. Regional characteristics of diffusion anisotropy in mouse spinal cord white matter are equivalent in vivo , in situ after death (up to 10 h before fixation), and ex vivo 15 weeks after immersion fixation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.