Abstract #4923

Imaging Blood Brain Barrier Disruption in Multiple Sclerosis using GlucoCEST MRI

Xiang Xu^1,2, Pavan Bhargava³, Linda Knutsson^1,4, Martin Pomper¹, Peter Calabresi³, and Peter C.M. van Zijl^1,2

¹Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁴Department of Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

It has been demonstrated that glucose can be used as a contrast agent for chemical exchange saturation transfer (glucoCEST) and enhanced relaxation (T2 or T1ρ). In the present work we show the possibility of detecting blood brain barrier (BBB) disruption in multiple sclerosis (MS) using glucoCEST MRI at 7T and 3T. At both field strengths, glucoCEST enhancement was observed in some MS lesions that were not enhanced by Gd T1w images. Our results show that glucose may be more permeable than Gd to minor BBB disruptions, suggesting that glucose transport may also be more sensitive to MS disease activities.

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