engleski

In-vivo MRI brain volumetric changes in a rat model of moderate perinatal hypoxia

Aim The in-vivo MRI study of juvenile rats aims to detect neuroradiological structural and volumetric changes consequently to moderate perinatal hypoxic brain lesion. Methods Sixteen male Wistar Han (RccHan: WIST) rats were subjected to moderate hypoxia (8% O2, 92% N2/2h, 8 treated and 8 control) on the first postnatal day (P1). On P15, MRI T2-weighted scans were obtained in-vivo, and brain volume was quantified after manual delineation of regions of interest, using ITK-SNAP and custom scripts in Python 3.8. In addition, 16 post-hypoxia (8 males, 8 females) and 15 control (7 males, 8 females) rats were sacrificed on P50, brains were instantly isolated and immediately weighed on a digital scale. Due to the sex-related difference in size, brain mass was compared separately in males and females by Student t-test. Results The rats subjected to hypoxia show an indicative increase in olfactory bulbs volume fraction (VF) median from the total brain volume (TBV ; 4.36 ± 0.47% and 4.55 ± 0.37%, p=0.0734). We found no difference between groups in the TBV or ventricular system VF medians. Post-hypoxic adult animals displayed a slight but significant increase in the brain mass in both males (1.81 ± 0.06 g and 1.72 ± 0.03 g, respectively, p=0.0032) and females (1.67 ± 0.05 g and 1.54 ± 0.15 g, respectively, p=0.0448), in comparison to control rats. Conclusion Further investigation is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of demonstrated brain volume and mass changes after moderate perinatal hypoxia. Funding CSF-IP-2019-04-3182 ; GA KK01.1.1.01.0007 funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund

MRI ; hypoxia ; development

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