• Spine · Sep 2013

    Feasibility of in vivo quantitative magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion weighted imaging, T2-weighted relaxometry, and diffusion tensor imaging in a clinical 3 tesla magnetic resonance scanner for the acute traumatic spinal cord injury of rats: technical note.

    • Rodrigo Mondragon-Lozano, Araceli Diaz-Ruiz, Camilo Ríos, Roberto Olayo Gonzalez, Rafael Favila, Hermelinda Salgado-Ceballos, and Ernesto Roldan-Valadez.
    • *Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México; †Departamento de Neuroquímica, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, México; ‡Departamento de Sistemas Biológicos, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México; §Departamento de Física, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México; ¶GE Healthcare, Mexico; ‖Unidad de Investigación Médica en Enfermedades Neurológicas, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, México; and **Magnetic Resonance Unit, Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico.
    • Spine. 2013 Sep 15;38(20):E1242-9.

    Study DesignProspective longitudinal study.ObjectiveTo verify the feasibility of performing in vivo quantitative magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of moderate traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats using a clinical 3T scanner.Summary Of Background DataAnimal models of human diseases are essential for translational medicine. Potential treatments of SCI are evaluated in 2 ways: anatomical and functional. Advanced magnetic resonance sequences allow a noninvasive assessment of the spinal cord depicting both. This study describes and validates a very reproducible, feasible, affordable, and reliable method, designed to be applied in commercial 3T equipment, using a novel stereotactic device for spinal cord, leading to a readily available assessment of the progression of damage generated after traumatic SCI in rats.MethodsFour Long-Evans female rats were injured with a New York University weight-drop device to produce the SCI by contusion at thoracic level 10. All animals were placed in a fixation system, using a commercial wrist antenna to obtain magnetic resonance imaging data of the relaxometry time, apparent diffusion coefficient, and fractional anisotropy. Three sets of data obtained before SCI and 1 and 4 weeks after injury were compared.ResultsThe data showed a progressive decline in fractional anisotropy measurements after SCI comparing baseline versus the 1-week period (P < 0.001) and baseline versus the 4-week period (P < 0.019), with a significant progressive increase in apparent diffusion coefficient values and T2 after SCI only in the baseline versus the 4-week period (P < 0.045 and P < 0.024, respectively).ConclusionOur results helped us to validate a novel method to acquire highly reproducible and reliable quantitative biomarkers of traumatic SCI in vivo by using a 3T clinical MR scanner coupled with a novel stereotactic device for rats.Level Of EvidenceN/A.

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