Nikolay L. Martirosyan1, Kevin M. Bennett2, Nicholas Theodore3, Mark C. Preul
1Neurosurgery Research, Barrow Neurological Inst., Phoenix, AZ, USA; 2Harrington Department of Bioengineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA; 3Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Inst., Phoenix, AZ, USA
Manganese enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) is potentially an important tool for assessing neural tissue regeneration after spinal cord injury (SCI). A study was performed to determine the relation between manganese and MRI signal after inraventricular injection in an SCI rat model. Rats were divided to four groups with/without SCI and with/without manganese injection. Inductively-coupled plasma mass spec (ICP-MS) measured total manganese content. The results confirmed Mn2+ uptake in the spinal cord after intraventricular injection, and that the MRI signal intensity correlates with spinal Mn2+ concentration as measured with ICP-MS. MEMRI is thus useful tool for studying SCI.