Abstract #0354

Quantitative MR Assessment of Spinal Cord Injury Induced Non-Invasively Using Focused Ultrasound

Wendy Oakden¹, Meaghan A. O'Reilly², Margarete K. Akens³,⁴, Isabelle Aubert⁵,⁶, Cari Whyne³,⁴, Kullervo Hynynen,¹², Greg J. Stanisz,¹²

¹Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; ²Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; ³Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁴Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁵Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁶Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

This novel, non-invasive preclinical model uses Focused Ultrasound and microbubbles to create a highly localized injury of the rat spinal cord. The injury caused paralysis of the right hind leg in one of the rats. Quantitative T2 characterization of the injury in vivo, 24 hours following induction, revealed increased intra/extracellular water T2 indicative of inflammation, confirmed using histopathology. Diffusion tensor imaging showed decreased fractional anisotropy. Future work will look at later timepoints to determine if this injury leads to demyelination and determine the potential of this non invasive spinal cord injury model to represent clinically relevant spinal cord pathology.