CT perfusion-weighted imaging evaluation of neurological function recovery in cerebral infarction rats undergoing neural stem cell transplantation / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:CT perfusion technology is a common non-invasive detection method, which can be used to quantitatively determine the ischemia severity and range at early stage of cerebral infarction and then judge whether ischemic brain tissues can survive or recover. OBJECTIVE:To assess the neurological function recovery of cerebral infarction rats undergoing neural stem cel transplantation using CT perfusion imaging. METHODS:A total of 60 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, cerebral infarction group, transplantation group, with 20 rats in each group. Rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion was made in the latter two groups. After 24 hours of modeling, PBS and 8×105 neural stem cels were administratedvia the tail vein into the rats in the cerebral infarction and transplantation groups, respectively. CT perfusion-weighted imaging was performed at 1, 3, 7, 14, 28 days after transplantation. Modified neurological severity scores were recorded at 1, 2, 3, 4 weeks after transplantation. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining was used to calculate infarct volume at 4 weeks after transplantation. Hematoxylin- eosin staining was adopted to observe pathological changes of brain tissues at 2 weeks after transplantation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were no abnormal hemodynamic changes in the control group at different time points. The transplantation group exhibited an increasing CT value with time, and the increased cerebral blood flow could improve the survival rate of neurons in the ischemic penumbra. The modified neurological severity score and infract volume in the transplantation group were both significantly lower than those in the cerebral infarction group (P < 0.05). Cel necrosis was improved obviously in the transplantation group. These results show that CT perfusion imaging can be used to observe the neurologic function recovery of cerebral infarction rats in aspects of morphology and hemodynamics.