Tina Pavlin1, Christian Brekken1, Pl Erik Goa2, Anna Thoren3, Ole Petter Ottersen3, Erlend A. Nagelhus3, Asta Hberg1
1Circulation and Medical Imaging, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway; 2Medical Imaging, St.Olavs Hospital HF, Trondheim, Norway; 3University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
We use time-dependent diffusion MRI to investigate how complete depletion of aquaporin-4 affects water diffusion in the mice brain. Our measurements show no difference in time-dependent diffusion between knockouts and controls in the resting state. We obtain a bulk diffusion constant of 1x10-5 cm2/s and the tortuosity value of 1.6. Furthermore, the diffusion is monoexponential over the entire range of diffusion times used (from 7 ms to 149 ms) due to the small gradient strengths (and thus q-values) used in these measurements.