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Abstract #0742

Mild Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury in the Neonatal Rat Brain: Longitudinal Evaluation of the White Matter Using Diffusion Tensor MR Imaging

Silun Wang1, Ed. X. Wu2,3, Kexia Cai2,3, Ho-Fai Lau2,3, Pek-Lan Khong1

1Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong; 2Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; 3Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong


We evaluated longitudinally mild hypoxic-ischemic (HI) induced white matter (WM) damage in a neonatal rat model using DTI and correlated the DTI indices with histological evaluations. Results showed significantly decreased FA and increased ˡ in the injured WM reflected dysmyelination. The longitudinal changes of increasing FA, decreasing ˡ, and no change in // in both injured and control WM suggests continued myelination. Furthermore, differences in FA and ˡ between injured and control WM decreased longitudinally. Our results demonstrated that mild HI induced WM damage continues to mature with partial recovery post-HI, and this could be reflected by DTI in vivo.