Publication
Title
Diffusion kurtosis imaging probes cortical alterations and white matter pathology following cuprizone induced demyelination and spontaneous remyelination
Author
Abstract
Although MRI is the gold standard for the diagnosis and monitoring of multiple sclerosis (MS), current conventional MRI techniques often fail to detect cortical alterations and provide little information about gliosis, axonal damage and myelin status of lesioned areas. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) provide sensitive and complementary measures of the neural tissue microstructure. Additionally, specific white matter tract integrity (WMTI) metrics modelling the diffusion in white matter were recently derived. In the current study we used the well-characterized cuprizone mouse model of central nervous system demyelination to assess the temporal evolution of diffusion tensor (DT), diffusion kurtosis tensor (DK) and WMTI-derived metrics following acute inflammatory demyelination and spontaneous remyelination. While DT-derived metrics were unable to detect cuprizone induced cortical alterations, the mean kurtosis (MK) and radial kurtosis (RK) were found decreased under cuprizone administration, as compared to age-matched controls, in both the motor and somatosensory cortices. The MK remained decreased in the motor cortices at the end of the recovery period, reflecting long lasting impairment of myelination. In white matter, DT, DK and WMTI-derived metrics enabled the detection of cuprizone induced changes differentially according to the stage and the severity of the lesion. More specifically, the MK, the RK and the axonal water fraction (AWF) were the most sensitive for the detection of cuprizone induced changes in the genu of the corpus callosum, a region less affected by cuprizone administration. Additionally, microgliosis was associated with an increase of MK and RK during the acute inflammatory demyelination phase. In regions undergoing severe demyelination, namely the body and splenium of the corpus callosum, DT-derived metrics, notably the mean diffusion (MD) and radial diffusion (RD), were among the best discriminators between cuprizone and control groups, hence highlighting their ability to detect both acute and long lasting changes. Interestingly, WMTI-derived metrics showed the aptitude to distinguish between the different stages of the disease. Both the intra-axonal diffusivity (Da) and the AWF were found to be decreased in the cuprizone treated group, Da specifically decreased during the acute inflammatory demyelinating phase whereas the AWF decrease was associated to the spontaneous remyelination and the recovery period. Altogether our results demonstrate that DKI is sensitive to alterations of cortical areas and provides, along with WMTI metrics, information that is complementary to DT-derived metrics for the characterization of demyelination in both white and grey matter and subsequent inflammatory processes associated with a demyelinating event.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Neuroimage. - New York
Publication
New York : 2016
ISSN
1053-8119
DOI
10.1016/J.NEUROIMAGE.2015.10.052
Volume/pages
125 (2016) , p. 363-377
ISI
000366647500034
Pubmed ID
26525654
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Imaging of Neuroinflammation in Neurodegenerative Diseases (INMIND).
Molecular Imaging of Brain Pathophysiology (BrainPath).
Characterisation of innate immune responses in the central nervous system: modulation towards immunological acceptance of allogeneic cellular grafts.
Neural Stem Cells: molecular and physiological control of in vivo migration and differentiation.
Integrated cerebral networks for perception, cognition and action in human and non-human primates (CEREBNET).
White matter characterization using diffusion MRI.
Optimization of the image quality of fast Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tenor Imaging through adapted acquisition and image processing.
Optimized workflow for in vivo small animal diffusion weighted MRI studies of white matter diseases: from acquisition to quantification.
CalcUA as central calculation facility: supporting core facilities.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 21.11.2015
Last edited 04.03.2024
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