A Matrigel-Based Lipopolysaccharide Release Model to Evaluate the Versatility of Different MRI Approaches for Detection of Inflammation

Sebastian Temme¹, Christoph Jacoby², Zhaoping Ding², Florian Bnner², Nadine Borg², Jrgen Schrader², Ulrich Flgel²

In the present study, we developed a standardized matrigel-based LPS-release model of local inflammation suitable for MRI approaches. We demonstrate that matrigel itself can be visualized by conventional 1H MRI and that LPS induced inflammation resulted surprisingly in a decreased T2-relaxation time in the matrigel plug. Furthermore, inflammation in the plug was specifically detected by 19F MRI and the intensity of the 19F signal correlated with the LPS dose. These findings suggest that the matrigel-LPS model is a reproducible and quantitative method for evaluation of specificity and sensitivity of MRI methods used for imaging of inflammation in vivo.