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Abstract #0232

In Vivo Quantification of Cartilage Regeneration in an Equine Model at 3T Following Gene Therapy

Daniel James Clark1, Guang Jia1, Maria Isabel Menendez2, Seongjin Choi1, Craig James Miller, Steffen Sammet1, David C. Flanigan3, Alicia Louise Bertone2, Michael V. Knopp1

1Radiology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; 2Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; 3Orthopedics, OSU Sports Medicine Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States


Currently, there is no established human sized model for cartilage regeneration. This study is the first to assess the time course of healing in vivo using quantitative MRI in live ponies with cartilage thicknesses comparable to humans in a 3T clinical scanner. We use several innovative, quantitative methods including delayed contrast-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC), dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), and T2 mapping. The results of this study strongly suggest that in vivo quantitative MRI can be used to monitor cartilage healing and characterize the physiological state of repaired tissue.