Chia-Wen Chiang1, Yong Wang2, Tsen-Hsuen Lin3, Anne Cross, 24, Sheng-Kwei Song2
1Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States; 2Radiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States; 3Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States; 4Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, United States
Optic nerves in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice were examined using in vivo diffusion basis spectrum imaging (DBSI) to assess the contribution of various underlying pathologies on the functional disability. We observed that inflammation assessed by in vivo DBSI as the sum of increased cellularity and vasogenic edema negatively correlated with visual acuity (R2 = 0.80) in acute EAE mice. These imaging based results suggest that inflammation plays a significant role in visual function in EAE mice similar to human optic neuritis.