Quantification of Formalin-Fixed MS Brain Tissue Parameters T1, T2*, PD and Phase at 7T and Comparison with Histopathology

Cherian Renil Zachariah¹, David Pitt², Peter Wassenar¹, Bradley D. Clymer¹, Amir Abduljalil¹, Michael V. Knopp¹, Petra Schmalbrock¹

Depiction of cortical demyelination in MS is still hampered by low contrast, spatial resolution and specificity.This study applies T2*-gradient echo and inversion recovery turbo field echo (IR-TFE) sequences 7T to image formalin-fixed tissue specimen and measure T1,T2*,PD and phase differences. We notice that PD maps and phase maps may be promising for enhancing cortical lesion depiction . Following MRI, specimen were cut and labeled with anti-myelin basic protein antibodies to detect myelin and with anti-CD68 antibodies to detect activated macrophages/microglia. Scanned histology slides were scored for cortical lesions and compared to MRI