In vivo Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging, and Tractography of a Sciatic Nerve Injury Model in Rat at 9.4T.

ABSTRACT: Peripheral nerve injuries result in severe loss of sensory and motor functions in the afflicted limb. There is a lack of standardised models to non-invasively study degeneration, regeneration, and normalisation of neuronal microstructure in peripheral nerves. This study aimed to develop a non-invasive evaluation of peripheral nerve injuries, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI), and tractography on a rat model of sciatic nerve injury. 10 female Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to sciatic nerve neurotmesis and studied using a 9.4 T magnet, by performing DTI and DKI of the sciatic nerve before and 4 weeks after injury. The distal nerve stump showed a decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean kurtosis (MK), axonal water fraction (AWF), and radial and axona

SUBMITTER: Andersson G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6110718 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature