title: An in vivo magnetic resonance imaging technique for measurement of rat lumbar vertebral body blood perfusion.
abstract: The technical feasibility of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurement of rat vertebral blood perfusion using a 1.5 T clinical scanner and a small surface coil was investigated in this study. Nine male 7-month-old Wistar-Kyoto rats were used. Computed tomographic assessment of lumbar vertebral bone mineral density (BMD) and MRI assessment of lumbar vertebral blood perfusion were performed twice with 8 weeks' interval. A 4.7 cm surface coil was used for receiving radiofrequency signal. Gadolinium-DOTA (0.3 mmol/kg) was injected through the tail vein of the rat as a quick bolus and dynamic MRI scan was carried out on the central sagittal plane of the lumbar spine for 8 min with a temporal resolution of 0.6 s. Blood perfusion parameters of wash-in rate, maximum enhancement and wash-out rate were derived from the dynamic MR images. No vertebral body size and vertebral BMD difference was detected between the two time points (P=0.222 and 0.123, respectively). Wash-in rate was 0.105 (+/-0.016)% and 0.111 (+/-0.018)%, maximum enhancement 126.5 (+/-10.6)% and 129.2 (+/-13.4)%, and wash-out rate 0.788 (+/-0.182)% and 0.792 (+/-0.182)% for the two time points. With these parameters, no difference was found between the two time points with a P value of 0.575, 0.889 and 0.754, respectively. We conclude that dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI measurement of rat vertebral blood perfusion using a 1.5 T clinical scanner and a small surface coil is feasible and reliable. This technique offers a non-invasive means to probe vertebral blood perfusion changes associated with rat disease models.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. yixiang_wang@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Yi-Xiang J
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: Ya-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: David K W
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Anil T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Ahuja
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology; D006571:Heterocyclic Compounds; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000378:metabolism; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D051381:Rats; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D006571:Heterocyclic Compounds; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C050823:gadolinium 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N'',N'''-tetraacetate