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Abstract #1729

Quantification of Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability in the Mouse Brain in Vivo

Sang-Pil Lee1,2, Jieun Kim1, Nancy Berman3

1Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States; 2Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States; 3Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States


Measuring blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability in mice has been challenging because estimation of vascular contrast agent concentrations in the blood is especially difficulty due to the requirement of very high spatial resolution. We have overcome the difficulty by combining pre-contrast T1 mapping and high-resolution spin-echo T1-weighted imaging. We have successfully quantified BBB permeability in vivo from the signal changes associated with uptake of Gd-DTPA following traumatic brain injury using the Patlak plot technique. Results show that significant entry of Gd into the brain was evident in the injury site with excellent linear relationship between tissue concentration of Gd and the stretched time.