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Diffusion tensor imaging of white matter injury in a rat model of infantile hydrocephalus

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Abstract

Objective

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a non-invasive MRI technique that has been used to quantify white matter (WM) abnormality in both clinical and experimental hydrocephalus (HCP). However, no DTI study has been conducted to characterize anisotropic diffusion properties in an animal model of infantile HCP. This DTI study was designed to investigate a rat model of HCP induced at postnatal day 21, a time developmentally equivalent to the human infancy.

Methods

DTI data were acquired at approximately 4 weeks after the induction of HCP with kaolin injection. Using a 7 Tesla small animal MRI scanner we performed high-resolution DTI on 12 rats with HCP and 6 saline controls. Regions of interest (ROI) examined with quantitative comparisons include the genu, body, and splenium of the corpus callosum (gCC, bCC, and sCC, respectively), anterior, middle, and posterior external capsule (aEC, mEC, and pEC, respectively), internal capsule (IC), and fornix (FX). For each ROI, DTI metrics including fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (Dax), and radial diffusivity (Drad) were calculated.

Results

We found that the anisotropic diffusion properties were abnormal across multiple WM regions in the brains of the HCP rats. Statistically significant differences included: (1) decreased FA and increased MD and Drad values in the gCC and bCC; (2) increased Dax in the sCC; (3) increased FA and Dax in the aEC; (4) increased FA in the mEC; (5) increased MD and Drad in the pEC; (6) increased FA and Dax in IC; (7) increased FA in FX.

Conclusions

These preliminary results provide the first evidence of WM injury quantified by DTI in a rat model of infantile HCP. Our data showed that DTI is a sensitive tool to characterize patterns of WM abnormalities and support the notion that WM impairment is region specific in response to HCP.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported in part by the Robert L. McLaurin, MD, Faculty Development Scholarship in Neurosurgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, and Primary Children’s Medical Center Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Weihong Yuan, Scott K. Holland, David Henkel & Akila Rajagopal

  2. Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Weihong Yuan, Scott K. Holland, David Henkel & Akila Rajagopal

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Primary Children’s Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    James P. McAllister II

  4. The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    James P. McAllister II

  5. Department of Radiology, Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Diana M. Lindquist

  6. University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Diana M. Lindquist & Nicholas Gill

  7. Department of Neurological Surgery, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Francesco T. Mangano

  8. Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, MLC 2016, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 44529, USA

    Francesco T. Mangano

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  1. Weihong Yuan
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  8. Francesco T. Mangano
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Correspondence to Francesco T. Mangano.

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Yuan, W., McAllister, J.P., Lindquist, D.M. et al. Diffusion tensor imaging of white matter injury in a rat model of infantile hydrocephalus. Childs Nerv Syst 28, 47–54 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-011-1590-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-011-1590-y

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