Eric Raymond Muir1,2, Timothy Q. Duong2
1Biomedical Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States; 2Research
Imaging Institute, Ophthalmology/Radiology, UT Health Science Center San
Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
The
retina can be divided into seven cellular and synaptic layers. It has been
shown that intraocular injection of manganese enhances contrast in the rat
retina, revealing 7 layers with MRI. Gadolinium-DTPA is a T1 shortening
contrast agent like manganese, but the localization of the two within in a
tissue could be expected to be to differ, potentially leading to different
layer-specific enhancement. In this study we used intraocular injection of
gadolinium to provide unique layer enhancement in the rat retina.
Gadolinium-enhanced MRI clearly resolved six retinal layers at 25x25 m.