Detection of regional cerebral ischemia in the rat brain with susceptibility-enhanced echo-planar MR imaging

This paper reports on an ultrafast imaging technique with a magnetic susceptibility contrast medium in order to monitor the relative perfusion of normal and compromised rat brain tissue. Unilateral (right) middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion (n = 4) was performed in Sprague-Dawley rats. Control (n = 4) and sham-operated (n = 3) rats were also studied. MR imaging was performed with a General Electric 2.0-T CSI system (equipped with Acustar S-150 self-shielded gradients). Coronal gradient refocused echo-planar images were acquired in 65.6 msec (section thickness 2 mm; sweep width, 62.5 kHz; 64 x 64 image matrix; field of view, 40 x 40 mm) in sets of 12 or 16, before and during bolus administration of MR contrast material 0.05 mmol of iron per kilogram as AMI-25 superparamagnetic iron oxide particles