ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the variation of middle cerebral arteries of rats in depression model by using 3D-TOF sequence on 3.0T MR.Methods Forty SD rats were randomly divided into control group and depressive group with 20 in each.Compared with control group,depressive group were handled according to the demand of rat depression model.Rats were scanned by 3.0T MR on 0th,4th,6th,8th week respectively.Using Mimics software,the variation of middle cerebral arteries were described and analysed.Results Compared with the control group,the middle cerebral arteries of depressive group rats changed along with the increase of time.On the 4th week,the diameter of the middle cerebral arteries of rats decreased significantly (the diameter of left middle cerebral arteries:control group (0.31 ±0.05) mm,depressive group (0.28±0.04) mm,t=2.76,P＜0.05 ; the diameter of right middle cerebral arteries:control group (0.30 ± 0.05) mm,depressive group (0.27± 0.03) mm,t =2.61,P＜ 0.05).On the 6th week,the length of the middle cerebral arteries of rats decreased significantly (the length of left middle cerebral arteries:control group (5.6± 0.77) mm,depressive group (4.9 ± 0.73) mm,t =2.84,P＜ 0.05 ; the length of right middle cerebral arteries:control group(5.5±0.76) mm,depressive group(4.8±0.72) mm,t=3.11,P ＜0.05).On the 8th week,the diameter and length of the middle cerebral arteries of rats decreased more significantly (the diameter of left middle cerebral arteries:control group (0.31 ±0.05) mm,depressive group (0.22±0.02) mm,t =5.50,P＜ 0.01 ; the diameter of right middle cerebral arteries:control group (0.30 ± 0.04) mm,depressive group (0.21 ±0.02) mm,t=5.57,P＜0.01 ; the length of left middle cerebral arteries:control group (5.6±0.78) mm,depressive group (4.3±0.70)mm,t=5.49,P＜0.01 ;the length of right middle cerebral arteries:control group (5.5 ± 0.79) mm,depressive group (4.2±0.71)mm,t=5.45,P＜0.01).Conclusion The variation of middle cerebral arteries of depressive rats reveals the relationship between brain vessels and depression in a certain extent.