Kevin C. Chan1,2, Abby Y. Ding1,2,
Ed X. Wu1,2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and
Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; 2Department
of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong
Kong SAR, China
This
study employs in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to determine the
long-term outcomes of microstructural integrity along the visual pathways
after severe neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury to the entire ipsilesional
visual cortex in rats at postnatal day 7. Quantitative analyses showed that,
compared to age-matched normal brains, a significantly lower FA but higher
λ//, λ┴ and diffusion trace value were observed in the
ipsilesional posterior optic tract in the HI-injured brains at postnatal day
60, whereas significantly lower FA but mildly lower λ// and higher
λ┴ and trace were observed in the ipsilesional prechiasmatic optic
nerve and contralesional anterior and posterior optic tracts. The results of
this study are potentially important in determining and improving the
functional consequences of the brain lesion after most compensatory and
reparative phases have been passed.
Keywords