Shiliang Huang1, Qiang Shen1, Fang Du1, Yen-Yu I. Shih1, Timothy Q. Duong1
1Reseach Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
Recovery of perfusion and/or diffusion abnormalities does not necessarily indicate functional and metabolic recovery in stroke. In this study, we developed a protocol for combined diffusion, perfusion and functional MRI to investigate transient focal ischemia in rats during the acute and chronic phase. Quantitative perfusion and diffusion imaging was performed and an improved ISODATA cluster analysis was used to classify normal, ischemic core and diffusion-perfusion mismatch tissues. BOLD and CBF fMRI was used to evaluate the hypercapnic and forepaw-stimulation responses in different brain regions and in the forepaw somatosensory cortices up to one month post-ischemia.
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