Comparison of Cerebral Blood Flow as Measured by Arterial Spin Labeling and Cerebral Blood Volume as Measured by Micro-CT Imaging Over Regions of the Mouse Brain

Brige Paul Chugh¹, Jason P. Lerch¹, Lisa X. Yu¹, R Mark Henkelman¹, John G. Sled¹

We developed an efficient imaging protocol to study the relationship between cerebral blood volume (CBV) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) over regions of the entire mouse brain, which may in future be applied to phenotype models of neurovascular disease. We performed a study that compared normative values of CBV and CBF over 13 mouse brain regions and over the cerebral cortex. The CBF was imaged using 3D arterial spin labeling and these images were co-registered to CBV images determined by a micro-CT protocol. This method could be useful for characterizing regional differences in vascularity in mouse models of cerebrovascular disease.