Abstract #0811

Thalamic nuclei-specific deposits of iron and calcium in the epileptogenic rat brain revealed by quantitative susceptibility mapping

Manisha Aggarwal¹, Xu Li², Peter C van Zijl², Olli Gröhn³, and Alejandra Sierra³

¹Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²F. M. Kirby Research Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Neurobiology, A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

We investigate microstructural pathological alterations in the epileptogenic rat brain using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). Using the established model of pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE), we show for the first time, localized paramagnetic and diamagnetic alterations in tissue susceptibility in specific thalamic-nuclei. QSM contrasts in SE and control rats were further compared with histological Alizarin and Perls’ stainings, which revealed calcium and iron depositions in areas corresponding to significant (p<0.005) alterations in magnetic susceptibility detected in the SE brains. Findings demonstrate the potential of QSM to sensitively detect and differentiate localized thalamic nuclei-specific iron and calcium deposits in the epileptogenic brain.

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