E1242 www.spinejournal.com September 2013 BASIC SCIENCE SPINE Volume 38, Number 20, pp E1242-E1249 ©2013, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Feasibility of In Vivo Quantitative MRI With Diffusion Weighted Imaging, T2-Weighted Relaxometry, and Diffusion Tensor Imaging in a Clinical 3T MR Scanner for the Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury of Rats Technical Note Rodrigo Mondragon-Lozano, MSc,* Araceli Diaz-Ruiz, PhD,† Camilo Ríos, PhD,†‡ Roberto Olayo Gonzalez, PhD,§ Rafael Favila, MSc,¶ Hermelinda Salgado-Ceballos, PhD,  and Ernesto Roldan-Valadez, MD, MSc** DOI: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e31829ef69c Study Design. Prospective longitudinal study. Objective. To verify the feasibility of performing in vivo quantitative magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of moderate traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats using a clinical 3T scanner. Summary of Background Data. Animal models of human diseases are essential for translational medicine. Potential treatments of SCI are evaluated in 2 ways: anatomical and functional. Advanced magnetic resonance sequences allow a noninvasive assessment of the spinal cord depicting both. This study describes and validates a very reproducible, feasible, affordable, and reliable method, designed to be applied in commercial 3T equipment, using a novel stereotactic device for spinal cord, leading to a readily available assessment of the progression of damage generated after traumatic SCI in rats. Methods. Four Long-Evans female rats were injured with a New York University weight-drop device to produce the SCI by contusion From the *Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México; †Departamento de Neuroquímica, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, México; ‡Departamento de Sistemas Biológicos, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México; §Departamento de Física, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México; ¶GE Healthcare, Mexico; Unidad de Investigación Médica en Enfermedades Neurológicas, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, México; and **Magnetic Resonance Unit, Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico. Acknowledgment date: January 18, 2013. First revision date: April 11, 2013. Second revision date: May 30, 2013. Acceptance date: May 31, 2013. The manuscript submitted does not contain information about medical device(s)/drug(s). No funds were received in support of this work. No relevant financial activities outside the submitted work. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Ernesto Roldan-Valadez, MD, MSc, Coordination of Research and Innovation in MRI, Magnetic Resonance Unit, Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation., Puente de Piedra 150, Toriello Guerra, Tlalpan, CP 14050, Mexico City, Mexico; E-mail: ernest.roldan@usa.net S pinal cord trauma is a potentially devastating cause of spinal cord injury (SCI), with irreversible conse- quences resulting in a deficit in motor, sensory, and autonomic functions in injured patients. 1 Research efforts in SCI use animal models of disease essential for understand- ing the pathological processes in humans. 2,3 A complete SCI without discernible motor or sensory preservation on neuro- logical examination has a very poor prognosis. However, an incomplete SCI may regain a large amount of useful function with rapid diagnosis and treatment. 4 Imaging technology is evolving within 4 main fields: development of new magnetic at thoracic level 10. All animals were placed in a fixation system, using a commercial wrist antenna to obtain magnetic resonance imaging data of the relaxometry time, apparent diffusion coefficient, and fractional anisotropy. Three sets of data obtained before SCI and 1 and 4 weeks after injury were compared. Results. The data showed a progressive decline in fractional anisotropy measurements after SCI comparing baseline versus the 1-week period ( P < 0.001) and baseline versus the 4-week period ( P < 0.019), with a significant progressive increase in apparent diffusion coefficient values and T 2 after SCI only in the baseline versus the 4-week period ( P < 0.045 and P < 0.024, respectively). Conclusion. Our results helped us to validate a novel method to acquire highly reproducible and reliable quantitative biomarkers of traumatic SCI in vivo by using a 3T clinical MR scanner coupled with a novel stereotactic device for rats. Key words: magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, fractional anisotropy, apparent diffusion coefficient, T 2 relaxometry mapping, biomarker, spinal cord injury, weight-drop device. Level of Evidence: N/A Spine 2013;38:E1242–E1249 Copyright © 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. BRS205702.indd E1242 BRS205702.indd E1242 21/08/13 8:38 PM 21/08/13 8:38 PM