MR Diffusion Anisotropy Imaging of Spinal Cord Mechanical Compression and Injury on the Rat Model. In Vivo.

The aim of this study was the application of magnetic resonance diffusion anisotropy imaging (MR DAI) for assessment of spinal cord compression (SCC) and injury (SCI) in rats depending on the time course from the moment of injury. Twenty rats were used, divided into three groups (five with no surgical operation, five with laminectomy only and ten with SCI produced using a dynamic weight - drop model). MR DAI was performed four times (1, 24, 48 and 168 hours after surgery) at 4.7 T with diffusion gradients applied parallel and perpendicular to the spine. Diffusion parameters (lADC, tADC and AI) were calculated for defined regions of white and gray matter. Epidural hematoma which appeared after laminectomy compressed spinal cord and caused a decrease of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in GM and WM. SCI in WM produced a decrease of lADC and increase in tADC. In GM an increase in both lADC and tADC values after SCI was observed. MR DAI will disclose dynamic changes in water diffusion during the first days after spinal cord contusion.

Hydration study of homopolypeptides by (2)H NMR.

Deuteron T(1) and T(2) was studied as a function of hydration in homopolyglycine (PG) and homopolyproline (PP). Water deuteron relaxation rates in PG conform to a hydration model involving two types of primary hydration sites where water is directly bonded to the polymer. Once these sites are filled, additional water only bonds to water molecules at the primary sites and in so doing affect their dynamics. PP exhibits an anomalous T(1) and T(2) hydration dependence which has been interpreted in terms of a cooperative water molecule-PP molecule helical conformational rearrangement which occurs once a certain hydration level is reached. The proposal of a water-PP structure is tested using molecular dynamics simulations.

Analysis of the diffusion weighted MR microscopy data of excised spinal cord of a rat on the basis of the model of restricted diffusion.

Anisotropic diffusion in the excised rat spinal cord saturated with 0.9% saline was investigated using MR microimaging with b-values up to 8000 s/mm2 for different diffusion times. Non-exponential transversal diffusion decay found in white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) was fitted with 2 components (the "fast" and the "slow"). Significantly smaller non-exponential dependence was found for the longitudinal diffusion in the WM. Obtained results corresponding to restricted diffusion in the range from approximately 2 to approximately 7 microm were correlated with axon diameter distribution in the WM obtained from transmission electron micrographs. It was concluded that observed diffusion anisotropy in the spinal cord might be entirely explained by presence of the slow transversal component, arising from the restricted diffusion. The strict analytical description of the diffusion decay in nervous tissue requires taking into account continuous distribution of the space-scale of the restricting barriers. The simplified two-component analysis may be applicable for visualization of the nervous tissue in clinical practice.