title: Echo planar diffusion tensor imaging of the mouse spinal cord at thoracic and lumbar levels: A feasibility study.
abstract: Diffusion tensor imaging is increasingly used for probing spinal cord (SC) pathologies, especially in mouse models of human diseases. However, diffusion tensor imaging series requires a long acquisition time and mouse experiments rarely use rapid imaging techniques such as echo planar imaging. A recent preliminary study demonstrated the feasibility and robustness of the echo planar imaging sequence for mouse cervical SC diffusion tensor imaging investigations. The feasibility of echo planar imaging at thoracic and lumbar levels, however, remained unknown due to bulk motion, field inhomogeneities, and off-centering of the SC in the axial plane. In the present study, the feasibility and the robustness of an echo planar imaging-based diffusion tensor imaging sequence for mouse thoracic and lumbar SC investigations is demonstrated. Quantitative and accurate diffusion tensor imaging metrics, as well as high spatially resolved images, have been obtained. This successful demonstration may open new perspectives in the field of mouse SC imaging. Echo planar imaging is used in several imaging modalities, such as relaxometry or perfusion, and may prove to be very attractive for multimodal MR investigations to acquire a more detailed characterization of the SC tissue.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Résonance Magnétique Biologique et Médicale, Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II), Marseille, France. virginie.callot@univmed.fr
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Callot
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duhamel
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Le Fur
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Decherchi
authors.forename: Tanguy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marqueste
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kober
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Cozzone
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae