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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Diffusion Imaging in the Rat Cervical Spinal Cord
Published on: April 7, 2015
In vivo diffusion tensor imaging of the rat spinal cord at 9.4T
Benjamin M Ellingson1, Shekar N Kurpad, Shi-Jiang Li
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA.
Purpose:
To determine differences in diffusion measurements in white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) regions of the rat cervical, thoracic, and cauda equina spinal cord using in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with a 9.4T MR scanner.
Materials And Methods:
DTI was performed on seven rats in three slices at the cervical, thoracic, and cauda equina regions of the spinal cord using a 9.4T magnet. Axial diffusion weighted images (DWIs) were collected at a b-value of 1000 seconds/mm(2) in six directions. Regions of interest were identified via T2-weighted images for the lateral, dorsal, and ventral funiculi, along with GM regions.
Results:
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results indicated significant differences between every WM funiculus compared to GM for longitudinal apparent diffusion coefficient (lADC), transverse apparent diffusion coefficient (tADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), measured longitudinal anisotropy (MA1), and anisotropy index (AI). A significant difference in mean diffusivity (MD) between regions of the spinal cord was not found. Diffusion measurements were significantly different at each spinal level. In general, GM regions were significantly different than WM regions; however, there were few significant differences between individual WM regions.
Conclusion:
In vivo DTI of the rat spinal cord at 9.4T appears sensitive to the architecture of neural structures in the rat spinal cord and may be a useful tool in studying trauma and pathologies in the spinal cord.
