Paulina Rosicka1, 2, Jie Liu3, Andrew C. Yung, Wolfram Tetzlaff3, Piotr Kozlowski, 3
1Institute of Nuclear Physics, Krakow, Poland; 2UBC MRI Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 3ICORD
Myelin water imaging was carried out in rat spinal cords in vivo. CPMG data were acquired from 10 rats 3 weeks and 8 weeks following dorsal column trancection injury and ex vivo. Average Myelin Water Fraction was measured in fasciculus gracilis 5 mm cranial to injury and correlated with histology. MWF increased at 3 weeks post injury and returned to baseline levels at 8 weeks post injury. Eriochrome stain (EC) showed similar trend, while dgen-MBP (dye staining degenerated myelin) showed increased values between 3 and 8 weeks post-injury. MWF values correlated well with EC stain, but not with the dgen-MBP stain.