Jeff D. Winter1, Stephanie Dorner2,
Joseph A. Fisher3,4,
1Physiology and Experimental Medicine,
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Respiratory
Therapy, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3Anaesthesiology,
University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 4Physiology,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 5Imaging
Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada; 6Medical
Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 7Medical
Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The
swine model is an alternative to non-human primates for neuroimaging and may
be suitable for studying pediatric cerebrovascular disorders. The aim of this
study was to characterize swine cerebrovascular development using BOLD cerebrovascular
reactivity (CVR) and ASL cerebral blood flow (CBF). We acquired data from 13
juvenile (1-12 wk) pigs. BOLD-CVR measurements exhibited a significant
logarithmic increase with body weight (Pearson r>0.81 and p<0.005 for
all brain regions); whereas, baseline CBF was not related to body weight.
Understanding these cerebrovascular changes will benefit future developmental
studies using the swine as a translational model for cerebrovascular disease.
Keywords