title: Manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for in vivo assessment of damage and functional improvement following spinal cord injury in mice.
abstract: In past decades, much effort has been invested in developing therapies for spinal injuries. Lack of standardization of clinical read-out measures, however, makes direct comparison of experimental therapies difficult. Damage and therapeutic effects in vivo are routinely evaluated using rather subjective behavioral tests. Here we show that manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) can be used to examine the extent of damage following spinal cord injury (SCI) in mice in vivo. Injection of MnCl2 solution into the cerebrospinal fluid leads to manganese uptake into the spinal cord. Furthermore, after injury MEMRI-derived quantitative measures correlate closely with clinical locomotor scores. Improved locomotion due to treating the detrimental effects of SCI with an established therapy (neutralization of CD95Ligand) is reflected in an increase of manganese uptake into the injured spinal cord. Therefore, we demonstrate that MEMRI is a sensitive and objective tool for in vivo visualization and quantification of damage and functional improvement after SCI. Thus, MEMRI can serve as a reproducible surrogate measure of the clinical status of the spinal cord in mice, potentially becoming a standard approach for evaluating experimental therapies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. b.stieltjes@dkfz.de
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stieltjes
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klussmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Umathum
authors.forename: Jain
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mangalathu
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Letellier
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rittgen
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Edler
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Krammer
authors.forename: Hans-Ulrich
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Kauczor
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin-Villalba
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Essig
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002712:Chlorides; D003287:Contrast Media; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D017895:Manganese Compounds; D051379:Mice; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D002712:Chlorides; D003287:Contrast Media; D017895:Manganese Compounds; C025340:manganese chloride