Intracranial irregularities beside hydrocephalus in H-Tx rats.
BACKGROUND
It has been well documented that up to 70% of H-Tx rats' offspring suffer from severe hydrocephalus, which can be fatal if it remains untreated. Some offspring also have non-fatal moderate hydrocephalus allowing a normal life expectancy. The objective of this study was finding other morphological intracranial abnormalities that are not directly related to hydrocephalus.


METHODS
An MRT for small animals (Bruker, Biospec, Erlangen Germany) with a 2.4 T magnet at 100 MHz has been used to study 98 apparently non-hydrocephalic H-Tx rats. T2-weighted 2D-RARE, T2-weighted 3D-Turbo-RARE sequence and T1-weighted 3D-gradient-echo sequences were used.


RESULTS
Apart from 36% of animals with moderate or mild hydrocephalus, we found one animal with a cystic cerebellar malformation similar to an arachnoid cyst with minimal space occupying effects. Nine rats had a mild or moderate-sized unilateral enlargement of one lateral ventricle, but a causative occlusion of the Foramen of Monroe could not be verified. Finally, one animal with huge hydrocephalus had a midline cystic malformation between both cerebral hemispheres.


CONCLUSIONS
Aside from the well-documented hydrocephalus, H-Tx rats may develop other intracranial malformations that have not yet been documented in the literature.
Kiefer
Michael
M
Department of Neurosurgery, Saarland University Medical School, Homburg-Saar, Germany. Michael.Kiefer@uks.eu
Schneider
Guenther
G
Eymann
Regina
R
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology*; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts / Q000379:methods; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D020547:Lateral Ventricles / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats