title: Early Inflammatory Response following Traumatic Brain Injury in Rabbits Using USPIO- and Gd-Enhanced MRI.
abstract: Purpose. To monitor the inflammatory response (IR) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) before and after the rehabilitation of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in rabbits using USPIO- and Gd-enhanced MRI.Materials and Methods. Twenty white big-eared rabbits with mild TBI (mTBI) were randomly and equally divided into four groups. Rabbits were sacrificed for the brain specimens immediately after the last MRI-monitoring. Sequences were tse-T1WI, tse-T2WI, Gd-T1WI, and USPIO-T1WI. Dynamical MRI presentations were evaluated and compared with pathological findings for each group.Results. Twenty-four hours after injury, all rabbits displayed high signal foci on T2WI, while only 55% lesions could be found on Gd-T1WI and none on USPIO-T1WI. The lesions were enhanced on Gd-T1WI in 100% subjects after 48 h and the enhancement sizes augmented to the largest after 72 h. At the time point of 72 h after TBI, 90% lesions were enhanced by USPIO. Five days after injury, 19 lesions showed decreased Gd-enhancement and one disappeared; however, USPIO-enhancement became larger than before. Pathological findings showed microglias slightly appeared in dense leukocytes at 48 h, but became the dominant inflammatory cells after five days.Conclusions. Dynamic IR following injury could be monitored by combination of Gd- and USPIO-MRI in mTBI rabbits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Southeast Hospital, Medical College of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China; Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Southeast Hospital, Medical College of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
authors.forename: Si
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7265-0457
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China; College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2864-0395
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Guang Ming
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4913-2314
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D003911:Dextrans; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005682:Gadolinium; D007249:Inflammation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D003911:Dextrans; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; C097921:ferumoxtran-10; D005682:Gadolinium