Allegra Conti1,2, Rémi Magnin1,3, Matthieu Gerstenmayer1, François Lux4, Olivier Tillement4, Sébastien Mériaux 1, Stefania Della Penna2, Gian Luca Romani2, Erik Dumont3, Denis Le Bihan1, and Benoît Larrat1
1CEA/DSV/I2BM/NeuroSpin, Gif Sur Yvette, France, 2Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, G. D'Annunzio, University of Chieti and Pescara, Chieti, Italy, 3Image Guided Therapy, Pessac, France, 4Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
We present here a new method to study the diffusion process of Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents within the brain extracellular space after the artificial Blood-Brain Barrier opening induced by ultrasound. Four compounds were tested (MultiHance, Gadovist, Dotarem and AGuIX). By estimating the Free Diffusion Coefficients from in vitro studies, and the Apparent Diffusion Coefficients from in vivo experiments, an evaluation of the tortuosity (λ) in the right striatum of 11 Sprague-Dawley rats has been performed. The values of λ are in agreement with literature and demonstrate that the chosen permeabilization protocol maintains the integrity of brain tissue.
