Roger J. Mullins1,
2, Da Shi1, 3, Jiachen Zhuo1, Su Xu1,
Rao P. Gullapalli1
1Diagnostic
Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Core for Translational Research in Imaging @
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Program in
Neuroscience, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD,
United States
It is well known that fixation in paraformaldehyde (PFA) alters MR characteristics, but the extent that sucrose infiltration may affect the MR signal and image quality has not been examined. Scanning ex vivo mouse brains revealed lowered mean, axial and radial diffusivity in brains immersed in 30% sucrose compared to brains in 4% PFA. However, higher T2 relaxation and signal intensity was found in samples immersed in 30% sucrose. Brains immersed in 4% PFA were more similar to in vivo DTI, in terms of T2 relaxation and signal intensity.