Voytek Gretka1, Lisa Di Diodato1,
Amy Hoyles2, Nancy J. Lobaugh3, Cindi Morshead2,
Greg J. Stanisz1
1Department of Medical Biophysics,
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Department of
Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 3Cognitive
Neurology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
In
animal models of stroke, endogenous neural precursor cells can be activated
with growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) and erythropoietin
(EPO) leading to increased neurogenesis and behavioural recovery. We
demonstrated the feasibility of using MR to distinguish between regenerating
and pathological tissues when using endogenous stem cell therapies in rats.
Tissue growth in the lesion site has MR characteristics (T1 and T2)
similar to that of normal brain tissue, and differs distinctly from the
cavity present when animals are untreated. MRI is able to predict the outcome
of the treatment as early as 2 weeks post stroke.