Diffusion-Weighted Spectroscopy in the Healthy and U87 Glioblastoma-Induced Mouse Brain

Julien Valette^1,2, Boucif Djemai², Franoise Geffroy², Mohamed Ahmed Ghaly², Fawzi Boumezbeur², Denis Le Bihan², Franck Lethimonnier²

Diffusion-weighted (DW) spectroscopy is a unique tool for probing the intracellular compartment in vivo. As far as we know, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of metabolites has never been reported in the mouse brain. In this preliminary work, the ADC of six metabolites is measured in a mouse brain for the first time, using an original DW-LASER sequence. In addition, measurements are performed in a Human U87-MG glioblastoma induced in the same animal, showing a dramatic increase in the ADC of choline compounds, which might be ascribed to lactacidosis-induced cell swelling.