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Abstract #0630

Structural and Hemodynamic Mouse Spinal Cord Maturation Assessed by High Resolution Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL).

Virginie Callot1, Guillaume Duhamel1, Patrick J. Cozzone1

1UMR 6612 CNRS, Universit de la Mditerrane, Centre de Rsonance Magntique Biologique et Mdicale (CRMBM), Marseille, France


The early organization of the spinal cord (SC) gray and white matter is not well described although important for the sensory-motor development. In this work, we performed a preliminary DTI and ASL-based perfusion study on mice, from weanling to young adult age, to investigate whether the MR methods would be sensitive enough to assess evolving structural and hemodynamic patterns. High-resolution quantitative images have been obtained and sensitivity was sufficient to observe evolution of the metrics with time. The capability of measuring non-invasively developmental changes in spinal cord should help as a basis for understanding atypical spine development and spine diseases.