This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.Introduction: Animal models of substance dependence can facilitate the identification of biological mechanisms underlying the predisposition, development, and maintenance of addiction. Of particular relevance to human alcohol addiction is brain white matter, which postmortem study has shown is subject to myelin and cytoskeletal degradation that may be reversible with abstinence. In vivo human diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies of alcohol dependence provide evidence for microstructural disruption of white matter not detectible with bulk volume measures of conventional MRI. Here, we report on the development of an in vivo echo-planar (EP) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) protocol on a 3T human MRI system equipped with a high-strength insert gradient coil for study of rat brain.Methods and Discussion:Healthy adult Wistar rats were scanned in a clinical GE 3T MR scanner equipped with a high-strength insert gradient coil (500mT/m, 1800T/m/s) and a custom quadrature birdcage coil (? = 44 mm). Imaging was accomplished with an EP DTI protocol for 0.5mm isotropic resolution. Diffusion weighting was applied for b-value=1009 s/mm2 in 6 noncollinear directions. Fractional anisotropy (FA) images had adequate signal-to-noise ratio to detect rat brain white matter structures. The primary orientation of the fibers could be identified in images where the FA value is multiplied by the principal component (x, y, and z) of the eigenvector of the largest eigenvalue.Funding Sources' R37 AA005965, CNS DEFICITS: INTERACTION OF AGE AND ALCOHOLISM , Adolf Pfefferbaum, 5/1/1997-6/30/2006' R01 AA012388, In Vivo Diffusion and Spectroscopic Brain Imaging in Alcoholism , Adolf Pefferbaum, 8/1/2000-6/30/2010' U01 AA013521, INIA: Imaging Core , Adolf Pfefferbaum, 9/27/2001-8/31/2006Relevant publications' E.V. Sullivan, E. Adalsteinsson, R. Sood, D. Mayer, R.L. Bell, W. McBride, T.-K. Li, A. Pfefferbaum Part I--Longitudinal Brain MRI Study of the Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rat: Adult Brain Growth , Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res., in review.' A. Pfefferbaum, E. Adalsteinsson, R. Sood, D. Mayer, R.L. Bell, W. McBride, T.-K. Li, E.V. Sullivan Part II--Longitudinal Brain MRI Study of the Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rat: Effects of Voluntary Chronic Alcohol Consumption , Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res., in review.' D. Mayer, E. Adalsteinsson, B.K. Rutt, N. Zahr, E.V. Sullivan, A. Pfefferbaum In Vivo Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Rat Brain Acquired with a 3T Clinical MRI System and a High Strength Insert Gradient Coil , Proc ISMRM, 14th Annual Meeting, Seattle, 2006.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 446 publications
