Assessment of Vascular Reactivity in Two Rat Brain Gliomas (C6 and RG2) by Blood Volume Fraction MRI During CO2 Challenge and Correlation to Mature Vessels

Benjamin Lemasson^1,2, Nicolas Pannetier^1,3, Thomas Christen^1,3, Jan Warnking^1,3, Alexandre Krainik^1,3, Rgine Farion^1,3, Christoph Segebarth¹, Olivier Duchamp², Chantal Rmy^1,3, Emmanuel L. Barbier^1,3

To identify differences in microvascular maturity between two orthotopic glioma rat models (C6 and RG2, which differ in angopoietin-2 expression), we compared modification of blood volume fraction during a CO2 challenge. Observed differences are in good agreement with structural microvascular maturation detected by immunohistology (pericyte coverage index). MRI vasoreactivity measurement might be an important biomarker in neurooncology to better understand microvascular physiopathology and improve medical treatment.