Elizabeth B. Hutchinson1, Ian Rowland2, Aleksey Sobakin3, Neil Kleman4, Dandan Sun4, Peter Ferrazzano5, Marlowe Eldridge5, Mary Elizabeth Meyerand6
1Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 2Radiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 3Veteranary Medicine, University of Wisconsin; 4Neurosurgery, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 5Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 6Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
Spinal cord injury due to decompression sickness (DCS) in sheep was investigated using DTI and histology. An injury profile of decreased white matter FA was identified in cases of acute and chronic injury. Histology using FluoroJade, a marker of apoptotic cells, was then performed and there was positive staining in the white matter of acutely injured spinal cord, but not control samples. This study identifies DTI biomarkers of two types of spinal cord damage within spinal DCS and correlates DTI changes with histological information.