Abstract #3758

A Longitudinal Study on Age-Related Changes of T1rho Relaxation in Rat Brain

Feng Zhao¹, Jing Yuan¹, Tian Jiu², Gang Lu², Queenie Chan³, Wai-Sang Poon², Yi-Xiang Wang¹

¹Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong; ²Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong; ³Philips Healthcare, Hong Kong

An alternate MRI contrast mechanism, T1rho relaxation, has been suggested as a sensitive biomarker to detect Alzheimer disease and Parkinsons disease in patients. However, whether normal brain aging is associated with brain T1rho relaxation change remains unknown. In this study, we longitudinally measured T1rho values in the bilateral thalamus, hippocampus and cortices of 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats at 5, 8, 10 and 15 months old. A trend of T1rho value rising in these rat brain regions following aging was found.