Harris N G, Jones H C, Williams S C
Biomedical Sciences Division, King's College London, United Kingdom.
Exp Neurol. 1992 Oct;118(1):1-6. doi: 10.1016/0014-4886(92)90016-j.
As part of a wider investigation on brain structure and function in young rats with inherited hydrocephalus, this study was undertaken to develop a technique to monitor, and quantify, progressive changes in ventricle and cortical dimensions in hydrocephalic rats in vivo. Magnetic resonance images were obtained with a T1-weighted protocol and a multislice variant of the inversion recovery sequence which displayed optimal contrast between cerebrospinal fluid and brain parenchyma. Rats were imaged at 7, 14, and 21 days after birth by taking 10 contiguous 2.0-mm coronal slices. Area and distance measurements were taken from the displayed images, enabling calculation of ventricle volumes, cortical length, and cortical thickness. The lateral ventricle volume, which was already 100-fold larger than control at 7 days, increased to over 1000 mm3 at 21 days. The anterior-posterior length of the cortex was up to 27% larger in hydrocephalics and the cortical mantle was up to 75% thinner, particularly in the posterior cortex. Subsequent fixation and histological sectioning of two 21-day-old rats showed that the smaller dimensions, which were obtained from analysis of the sections, could be accounted for by shrinkage of the tissue during dehydration and wax embedding.
作为对患有遗传性脑积水的幼鼠大脑结构和功能进行更广泛研究的一部分，本研究旨在开发一种技术，以在体内监测和量化脑积水大鼠脑室和皮质尺寸的渐进性变化。采用T1加权方案和反转恢复序列的多层变体获取磁共振图像，该序列在脑脊液和脑实质之间显示出最佳对比度。在出生后7天、14天和21天对大鼠进行成像，采集10个连续的2.0毫米冠状切片。从显示的图像中进行面积和距离测量，从而能够计算脑室体积、皮质长度和皮质厚度。侧脑室体积在7天时就已经比对照组大100倍，在21天时增加到超过1000立方毫米。脑积水大鼠皮质的前后长度比正常大鼠大27%，皮质层厚度比正常大鼠薄75%，尤其是在后皮质。随后对两只21日龄大鼠进行固定和组织切片，结果表明，通过对切片分析获得的较小尺寸可能是由于组织在脱水和石蜡包埋过程中的收缩所致。
