Monitoring infection and inflammation in murine models of cystic fibrosis with magnetic resonance imaging

✍ Scribed by Vipul R. Sheth; R. Christiaan van Heeckeren; Alma G. Wilson; Anna M. van Heeckeren; Mark D. Pagel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 578 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.21440

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing lung inflammation longitudinally in genetic mouse models of cystic fibrosis (CF). MRI is used to view soft tissues noninvasively, but the lung is challenging to image.

Materials and Methods

Cftr^+/+^ (wildtype) and Cftr^−/−^ (CF) mice were inoculated with agarose beads laden with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Longitudinal MR lung images were acquired with cardiac gating. The effects of echo time and respiration gating were evaluated to improve the detection of lung inflammation.

Results

Cardiac gating and signal averaging sufficiently suppressed motion artifacts without requiring respiration gating. MRI detected moderate to severe inflammation in infected mice, which was confirmed by histology results.

Conclusion

In vivo longitudinal MRI methods can assess lung inflammation in P. aeruginosa‐infected mice, which obviates serial sacrifice. MRI was able to detect inflammation in the absence of other physiological symptoms. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;28:527–532. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.