{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:22:40Z","timestamp":1760145760089,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724976000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"VA Research and Development Services","award":["I01BX005952","I01CX001388","I01RX003776","R01AR079484","R01AR075825","R01AR068987","RF1AG075717"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["I01BX005952","I01CX001388","I01RX003776","R01AR079484","R01AR075825","R01AR068987","RF1AG075717"]}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["I01BX005952","I01CX001388","I01RX003776","R01AR079484","R01AR075825","R01AR068987","RF1AG075717"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["I01BX005952","I01CX001388","I01RX003776","R01AR079484","R01AR075825","R01AR068987","RF1AG075717"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Imaging"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Quantitative MRI techniques could be helpful to noninvasively and longitudinally monitor dynamic changes in spinal cord white matter following injury, but imaging and postprocessing techniques in small animals remain lacking. Unilateral C5 hemisection lesions were created in a rat model, and ultrashort echo time magnetization transfer (UTE-MT) and diffusion-weighted sequences were used for imaging following injury. Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) measurements and preferential diffusion along the longitudinal axis of the spinal cord were calculated as fractional anisotropy or an apparent diffusion coefficient ratio over transverse directions. The area of myelinated white matter was obtained by thresholding the spinal cord using mean MTR or diffusion ratio values from the contralesional side of the spinal cord. A decrease in white matter areas was observed on the ipsilesional side caudal to the lesions, which is consistent with known myelin and axonal changes following spinal cord injury. The myelinated white matter area obtained through the UTE-MT technique and the white matter area obtained through diffusion imaging techniques showed better performance to distinguish evolution after injury (AUCs &gt; 0.94, p &lt; 0.001) than the mean MTR (AUC = 0.74, p = 0.01) or ADC ratio (AUC = 0.68, p = 0.05) values themselves. Immunostaining for myelin basic protein (MBP) and neurofilament protein NF200 (NF200) showed atrophy and axonal degeneration, confirming the MRI results. These compositional and microstructural MRI techniques may be used to detect demyelination or remyelination in the spinal cord after spinal cord injury.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jimaging10090213","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T07:45:47Z","timestamp":1725003947000},"page":"213","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Longitudinal Imaging of Injured Spinal Cord Myelin and White Matter with 3D Ultrashort Echo Time Magnetization Transfer (UTE-MT) and Diffusion MRI"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Qingbo","family":"Tang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yajun","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qun","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-5842-3969","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuanshan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Junyuan","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jiang","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pengzhe","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3633-5630","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric Y.","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"},{"name":"Radiology Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"626","DOI":"10.1227\/NEU.0000000000001336","article-title":"Imaging of Spine Trauma","volume":"79","author":"Shah","year":"2016","journal-title":"Neurosurgery"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1123","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(19)30138-3","article-title":"MRI in traumatic spinal cord injury: From clinical assessment to neuroimaging biomarkers","volume":"18","author":"Freund","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet Neurol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"871","DOI":"10.1152\/physrev.2001.81.2.871","article-title":"Biology of oligodendrocyte and myelin in the mammalian central nervous system","volume":"81","author":"Baumann","year":"2001","journal-title":"Physiol. 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