title: Simultaneous diffusion MRI measurements from multiple perfused rat hippocampal slices.
abstract: Rat brain slices provide a controllable tissue model in which to investigate the biophysical basis of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) signal changes observed clinically in nervous tissue after ischemic injury. This study describes a new multislice perfusion chamber that allows for the simultaneous acquisition of diffusion-weighted MR images from multiple perfused rat hippocampal slices (eight slices in the present study). These images had a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 48 +/- 3 at b = 8080 s/mm(2), which was sufficient to analyze the multicomponent diffusion properties of water in rat hippocampal slices. The tissue water diffusion parameters (f(fast) = 0.527 +/- 0.041, D(fast) = 1.268 +/- 0.087 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s, and D(slow) = 0.060 +/- 0.003 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s) were stable for at least 8 hr after slice procurement (ANOVA, P > 0.05), suggesting that it may be possible to study the acute temporal evolution of diffusion changes in multiple brain slices following experimental perturbation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610, USA. tms@ufbi.ufl.edu
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Shepherd
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Blackband
authors.forename: Edward D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Wirth
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats