Abstract #0347

Quantitative Assessment of the White Matter Damage Following Dorsal Column Transection in Rat Spinal Cord Using Frequency Shift Mapping

I-Wen Evan Chen¹, Jie Liu², Wolfram Tetzlaff²,³, Vanessa Wiggermann⁴, Edenino Hernandez-Torres⁴, Piotr Kozlowski,⁴⁵, Alexander Rauscher,⁴⁵

¹MRI Research Center, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; ²International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; ³Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; ⁴UBC MRI Research Centre, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; ⁵Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Tissue microstructure is regarded as a major source of white and gray matter contrast in phase images produced with gradient echo (GE) imaging in the CNS. We investigated frequency shift in excised rat spinal cords with dorsal column transection injury scanned at 7T parallel to main magnetic field B₀. Comparing them to corresponding Eriochrome Cyanide (myelin) stained tissue sections, we found strong correlation between myelin and frequency shift both 5mm distal and proximal to injury. These preliminary results suggest GE phase imaging of injured rat spinal cords provides a good model for assessing tissue microstructure contributions to MR frequency shifts.