Manganese-Enhanced MRI of Bilateral Retinas in Rat: Flickering White Light Versus Dark

Bryan H. De La Garza¹, Damon P. Cardenas¹, Yen-Yu Ian Shih¹, Timothy Q. Duong¹

Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) has been shown to be an excellent non-invasive contrast agent to study the retina. When exposed to functional changes, there is a layer specific retinal response that is associated with light and dark processing. This study employs a technique to image both eyes simultaneously with high resolution (39x39m). Imaging both eyes simultaneously allows us to study the effect of the retinal response to visual stimulation of one eye and darkness to the other eye following manganese administration. This allows us to see differences in functional physiological changes in the retina due to the change in ion demand of different retinal layers.