Abstract #1341

Orellana C, Engelbach J, Jacob R, Woods J, Chang Y, Whitsett J, Conradi M, Neil J

Hyperpolarized 3He diffusion imaging was employed to evaluate normal and surfactant protein C deficient mice. Mice were imaged at age 8-10 months of age, a time at which pulmonary fibrosis would be expected to reduce alveolar size in affected mice. The apparent diffusion coefficients in two control animals were 0.144 and 0.181 cm2/s, as compared with 0.127 0.020 cm2/s (n = 4) in surfactant-deficient animals. This study demonstrates the feasibility of making 3He diffusion measurements in transgenic mice. Further, the trend towards lower apparent diffusion coefficient values in affected animals is consistent with known pulmonary pathology in this model.