Abstract #0226

Gore J, Aschner M, Fitsanakis V, Avison M, Zhang N

Manganese (Mn) is an essential metal that is neurotoxic at high levels but which has been used with MRI in vivo to track neuronal architecture. As part of a toxicological study that aims to determine the pattern of Mn distribution in rat brain following weekly injections of Mn, we measured the effective relaxivity of Mn in vivo in different regions of the brain. The variations found suggest Mn takes different chemical or physical forms in different parts of the brain, which may be relevant for studies that assume the relaxivity is constant.