Abstract #3419

White Matter Changes in Lipopolysaccharide Treated Fetal Sheep Measured by High-Field Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Yohan van de Looij^1,2, Justin M. Dean³, Grgory Lodygensky¹, Henrik Hagberg³, Petra S. Hppi¹, Carina Mallard³, Rolf Gruetter^4,5, Stphane V. Sizonenko¹

¹Division of Child Growth & Development, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; ²Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; ³Perinatal Center, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gteborg, Sweden; ⁴Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne , Lausanne, Switzerland; ⁵Department of Radiology, University of Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland

White matter (WM) injury is a major cause of developmental disabilities in up to 75% infants after preterm birth. The goal of this study was to characterize changes in the fetal sheep brain following fetal lipopolysaccharide exposure by electroencephalography (EEG), DTI and neuropathology. Reduced FA correlated with histology and persistent drop in EEG amplitude revealed alterations in developing WM after fetal exposure to lipopolysaccharide. This work provides evidence of WM injuries following lipopolysaccharide detectable by DTI. This study could be of interest for clinical strategy in human preterm infants.