Progressive brain changes on serial manganese-enhanced MRI following traumatic brain injury in the rat

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has a high incidence of long-term morbidity. Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) provides high contrast structural and functional detail of the brain in-vivo. The study utilized serial MEMRI scanning in the fluid percussion injury (FPI) rat's model to assess long-term changes in the brain following TBI. Rats underwent a left-sided craniotomy and a 3.5 atmosphere FPI pulse (n=23) or sham procedure (n=22). MEMRI acquisition was performed at baseline, 1 day, 1 month, and 6 months after FPI. Volume changes and MnCl 2 enhancement were measured blindly using region-of-interest analysis and the results analyzed with repeated measures MANOVA. Compared to the shams, FPI animal..