MR spectroscopic imaging and diffusion‐weighted MRI for early detection of kainate‐induced status epilepticus in the rat

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that reduction of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) is correlated with the degree of neuronal loss at 3 days after kainate-induced status epilepticus in the rat. In this study, magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI), measurement of NAA and lactate, T2-weighted MRI, and diffusion-weighted MRI were used to study early alterations in rat piriform cortex at 12 and 26 h after kainate administration. The major findings are that decreased NAA signal, increased lactate signal, and decreased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were observed at 12 h, with little evidence of histological and T2-weighted MRI changes. These results support the hypothesis that NAA, lactate signals, and ADC provide sensitive methods for detection of early and minimal brain damage in vivo.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Study of the Lithium–Pilocarpine Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Adult Rats

“…In the future, it will be interesting to couple the MRI scans with magnetic resonance spectroscopy to distinguish neuronal damage and edema (40,41). In previous studies on kainate-induced SE, diffusion-weighted MRI allowed detection of early and minimal brain damage, whereas no such changes could be seen on T 2 -weighted images (42,43). The present data confirm this observation.…”

Changes in mouse brain metabolism following a convulsive dose of soman: A proton HRMAS NMR study

“…As already mentioned, this region is generally not structurally damaged by soman in rodents. However, our observations might be in line with the decrease of N-acetylaspartate detected 12 h after kainate intoxication despite the absence of concomitant evidence of histological lesions (Ebisu et al, 1996). The decrease of Nacetylaspartate might precede, and thus predict, further occurrence of neuronal injury.…”

Characteristics of seizure-induced signal changes on MRI in patients with first seizures

“…In the study using MR spectroscopy, acute changes in tissue metabolism during SE or shortly after acute symptomatic seizures were assessed. Increased DWI signals, decreased ADC and the presence of lactate, decreased N-acetylaspartate were demonstrated on MR spectroscopy to represent anaerobic glycolysis and neuronal dysfunction [25][26][27].…”