Debbie Anaby1, Ian D. Duncan2, Yoram Cohen1
1School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; 2Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
The contribution of myelin to water diffusion anisotropy measurements in neuronal tissue is not yet totally clear. Therefore, both low and high b-value q-space diffusion MRI (QSI) were used to study the diffusion characteristics of long evans shaker (LES) rats spinal cord (demyelination model). QSI was measured both parallel and perpendicular to the long axis of the spinal cord at different diffusion times. We found reduced FA in LES spinal cord as compared to controls for all diffusion times. Clearly, the significant difference between FA values of the two groups increased with the increasing diffusion times and diffusion weighting.