Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is now a major diagnostic tool. However it is still used primarily in a qualitative fashion. We believe that a thorough and potentially quantitative understanding of signal changes observed in clinical MRI requires knowledge of how the basic building blocks of tissues behave, i.e. single cells. It is only recently that nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microimaging has enabled the direct examination of large single cells. Using NMR microscopy the water T1, T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) will be measured in the cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments of perfused single neurons as a function of hyper and hypotonicity and correlated with changes in cell and nuclear volume measured using confocal microscopy. To provide an extracellular compartment and a closer link to in vivo animal brain tissue, similar measurements will be performed on perfused hippocampal brain slices and the relationship between the NMR characteristics of the tissues and the cellular volume changes determined. Taken together, these data will be used to develop a realistic mathematical model of tissues. Additionally we will begin preliminary studies examining the effects of a variety of perturbations on single cells and brain slices. We believe that a thorough understanding of the signal characteristics of single cells and brain slices will lead to an improved understanding of the signal changes observed in MRI, which in turn may help develop a more quantitative approach to clinical MRI. This in turn will greatly improve the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of MRI.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS036992-03
Application #
6165528
Study Section
Diagnostic Radiology Study Section (RNM)
Program Officer
Heetderks, William J
Project Start
1998-05-15
Project End
2002-03-31
Budget Start
2000-03-01
Budget End
2002-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$199,108
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Florida
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073130411
City
Gainesville
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
32611
Flint, Jeremy J; Hansen, Brian; Blackband, Stephen J (2016) Diffusion tensor microscopy data (15.6 ?m in-plane) of white matter tracts in the human, pig, and rat spinal cord with corresponding tissue histology. Data Brief 9:271-4
Flint, Jeremy J; Hansen, Brian; Fey, Michael et al. (2010) Cellular-level diffusion tensor microscopy and fiber tracking in mammalian nervous tissue with direct histological correlation. Neuroimage 52:556-61
Flint, Jeremy; Hansen, Brian; Vestergaard-Poulsen, Peter et al. (2009) Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging of neuronal activity in the hippocampal slice model. Neuroimage 46:411-8
Shepherd, Timothy M; Flint, Jeremy J; Thelwall, Peter E et al. (2009) Postmortem interval alters the water relaxation and diffusion properties of rat nervous tissue--implications for MRI studies of human autopsy samples. Neuroimage 44:820-6
Shepherd, Timothy M; Thelwall, Peter E; Stanisz, Greg J et al. (2009) Aldehyde fixative solutions alter the water relaxation and diffusion properties of nervous tissue. Magn Reson Med 62:26-34
Flint, Jeremy J; Lee, Choong H; Hansen, Brian et al. (2009) Magnetic resonance microscopy of mammalian neurons. Neuroimage 46:1037-40
Barmpoutis, Angelos; Vemuri, Baba C; Forder, John R (2007) Registration of high angular resolution diffusion MRI images using 4th order tensors. Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv 10:908-15
Jian, Bing; Vemuri, Baba C (2007) A unified computational framework for deconvolution to reconstruct multiple fibers from diffusion weighted MRI. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 26:1464-71
Shepherd, T M; Ozarslan, E; Yachnis, A T et al. (2007) Diffusion tensor microscopy indicates the cytoarchitectural basis for diffusion anisotropy in the human hippocampus. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 28:958-64
Thelwall, Peter E (2007) Detection of 17O-tagged phosphate by (31)P MRS: a method with potential for in vivo studies of phosphorus metabolism. Magn Reson Med 57:1168-72

Showing the most recent 10 out of 35 publications