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Abstract #0881

Specific Changes in Water Diffusivity Due to Passive Shortening and Lengthening of the Thigh Muscles a Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

Julien Gondin1, Virginie Callot2, Patrick J. Cozzone2, David Bendahan2, Guillaume Duhamel2

1Centre de Rsonance Magntique Biologique et Mdicale (CRMBM) - UMR CNRS 6612, Facult de Mdecine , Universit de la Mditerrane, Marseille, France; 2Centre de Rsonance Magntique Biologique et Mdicale (CRMBM) - UMR CNRS 6612, Facult de Mdecine, Universit de la Mditerrane, Marseille, France


We investigated whether the DTI metrics were sensitive enough to structural skeletal muscle fiber changes induced by both passive shortening and lengthening of the thigh muscles. Eight healthy male subjects were examined in a 1.5T whole-body MRI scanner. Images were randomly recorded from the mid-thigh region with the knee joint positioned at 0 and at 45. Both the vastus lateralis and biceps femoris muscles showed changes in diffusion properties between the two positions whereas the DTI metrics of RF muscle were kept constant. We hypothesized that the specifc changes in water diffusivity observed in this study, reflect nonuniform microstructure changes among the thigh muscles due to their complex muscle-tendon architectures.