Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Acute Experimental Brain Ischaemia

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Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Acute Experimental Brain Ischaemia


Publication date: Available online 23 May 2014
Source:Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Author(s): Risto A. Kauppinen

Ischaemia is a condition in which blood flow either drops to zero or proceeds at severely decreased levels that cannot supply sufficient oxidizable substrates to maintain energy metabolism in vivo. Brain, a highly oxidative organ, is particularly susceptible to ischaemia. Ischaemia leads to loss of consciousness in seconds and, if prolonged, permanent tissue damage is inevitable. Ischaemia primarily results in a collapse of cerebral energy state, followed by a series of subtle changes in anaerobic metabolism, ion and water homeostasis that eventually initiate destructive internal and external processes in brain tissue. 31P and 1H NMR spectroscopy were initially used to evaluate anaerobic metabolism in brain. However, since the early 1990s 1H Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), exploiting the nuclear magnetism of tissue water, has become the key method for assessment of ischaemic brain tissue. This article summarises multi-parametric 1H MRI work that has exploited diffusion, relaxation and magnetisation transfer as ‘contrasts’ to image ischaemic brain in preclinical models for the first few hours, with a view to assessing evolution of ischaemia and tissue viability in a non-invasive manner.
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