Abstract #3269

Characterization of Early Hypoxic-Ischemic Injuries to the Neonatal Mouse Cerebral Cortex and Hippocampus Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Julie Nogee¹, Brian S. Stone², Devin W. Mack², Lee J. Martin³, Michael I. Miller⁴, Susumu Mori⁵, Frances J. Northington², Jiangyang Zhang⁵

¹Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; ²Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; ³Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; ⁴Center of Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University; ⁵Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

We examined early cortical and hippocampal injury in a neonatal mouse model of hypoxia-ischemia using ex vivo DTI and histology. DTI revealed changes in fractional anisotropy and disruption of the radial structural patterns in the sensory cortex and hippocampal pyramidal cell layer at 24 hours after injury in p8, as well as in p11 and p15 mice. Immunohistochemistry revealed massive neurodegeneration with disruption of the axono-dendritic compartment in the injured cortex and hippocampus at p8, p11 and p15. The results suggest that DTI is useful for detecting specific neuropathology in the gray matter in this model.