3D He-3 diffusion MRI as a local in vivo morphometric tool to evaluate emphysematous rat lungs
In this work, we validate 3He magnetic resonance imaging as a non-invasive morphometric tool to assess emphysematous disease state on a local level. Emphysema was induced intratracheally in rats with 25U/100g body weight of porcine pancreatic elastase dissolved in 200 μL saline. Rats were then paired with saline-dosed controls. Nine three-dimensional 3He diffusion-weighted images were acquired at one-, two-, or three-weeks post-dose, after which the lungs were harvested and prepared for histological analysis. Recently introduced indices sensitive to the heterogeneity of the airspace size distribution were calculated. These indices, D1 and D2, were derived from the moments of the mean equivalent airway diameters. Averaged over the entire lung, it is shown that the 3He diffusivity (Dave) and anisotropy (Dan) both correlate with histology (R = 0.85, p < 0.0001 and R = 0.88, p < 0.0001, respectively). By matching small (0.046 cm2) regions in 3He images with corresponding regions in histological slices, Dave and Dan each correlate significantly with both D1 and D2 (R = 0.93, p < 0.0001). It is concluded that 3He MRI is a viable non-invasive morphometric tool for localized in vivo emphysema assessment.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 947454
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-59615; 25691; 25693; 400412000; TRN: US200909%%87
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physiology, 105:1291-1300, Vol. 105
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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