Biomedical subjects

N van Bruggen

Publications and source records attributed to N van Bruggen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Perfusion and diffusion MR imaging.

Diffusion-weighted images of the rat brain were obtained using the pulsed-gradient spin-echo method. An attempt was made to extract perfusion-related parameters from signal intensity data taken from the caudate-putamen region of the images, by using a nonlinear least-squares calculation to fit the Le Bihan biexponential expression (Le Bihan et al., Radiology, 168, 497 (1988)) to the data. The perfusion-related parameters could not be obtained with sufficient accuracy to be useful, although the perfusion-weighted images appear to contain meaningful qualitative information. An analysis of the perfusion model is presented and shows why the Le Bihan pseudo-diffusion coefficient is particularly difficult to measure with reasonable accuracy.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Cell and tissue responses of a murine tumour to phthalocyanine-mediated photodynamic therapy.

Mice bearing a subcutaneously growing tumour (Colo 26) were injected intravenously with the photosensitiser chloroaluminum sulphonated phthalocyanine (5 mg/kg) 24 h prior to irradiating the tumour with laser light (675 nm; 50mW, 100 J/tumour). Energy status of the tumour, as assessed by the loss of high energy phosphates in the 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, was altered dramatically following treatment, such that the ATP fell to undetectable levels within 1 h of light irradiation. However, assessment of the clonogenic capacity of neoplastic cells isolated from dissociated tumours showed that these rapid changes in cellular metabolism were not reflected in similar rapid changes in cell viability. Reductions in clonogenic capacity, which fell to less than 0.1% of control values at 24h postirradiation, closely mirrored those resulting from the cessation of vascular perfusion. Evaluation of tumour blood flow, using the technique of hydrogen washout, showed that the treatment protocol evoked a gradual and selective reduction in flow within the tumour resulting in complete vascular stasis by approximately 5 h after treatment. The results indicate that while chloroaluminum sulphonated phthalocyanine-mediated photodynamic therapy caused early metabolic damage in neoplastic cells, loss of viability paralleled the induction of complete inhibition of vascular flow in the tumour.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Diffusion-weighted imaging studies of cerebral ischemia in gerbils. Potential relevance to energy failure.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging has been shown to be particularly suited to the study of the acute phase of cerebral ischemia in animal models. The studies reported in this paper were undertaken to determine whether this technique is sensitive to the known ischemic thresholds for cerebral tissue energy failure and disturbance of membrane ion gradients. METHODS: Diffusion-weighted images of the gerbil brain were acquired under two sets of experimental conditions: as a function of cerebral blood flow after controlled graded occlusion of the common carotid arteries (partial ischemia), as a function of time following complete bilateral carotid artery occlusion (severe global ischemia), and on deocclusion after 60 minutes of ischemia. RESULTS: During partial cerebral ischemia, the diffusion-weighted images remained unchanged until the cerebral blood flow was reduced to 15-20 ml.100 g-1.min-1 and below, when image intensity increased as the cerebral blood flow was lowered further. This is similar to the critical flow threshold for maintenance of tissue high-energy metabolites and ion homeostasis. After the onset of severe global cerebral ischemia, diffusion-weighted image intensity increased gradually after a delay of approximately 2.5 minutes, consistent with complete loss of tissue adenosine triphosphate and with the time course of increase in extracellular potassium. This hyperintensity decreased on deocclusion following 60 minutes of ischemia. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that diffusion-weighted imaging is sensitive to the disruption of tissue energy metabolism or a consequence of this disruption. This raises the possibility of imaging energy failure noninvasively. In humans, this could have potential in visualizing brain regions where energy metabolism is impaired, particularly during the acute phase following stroke.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

T2- and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of a focal ischemic lesion in rat brain.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We sought to evaluate the application of T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging techniques in the study of a focal ischemic lesion in the rat brain. METHODS: Unilateral cortical infarcts were induced using the photosensitive dye rose bengal and 560 nm light irradiation. Magnetic resonance images were recorded from a total of 11 rats at selected intervals from 1.5 hours to several days after induction of the lesion. Parallel experiments were performed in which Evans blue dye was injected into the lesioned animals either immediately after lesion induction (n = 11) or 1 hour before the animals were killed (n = 11). The second procedure was designed to show regions of blood-brain barrier permeability to plasma proteins at the time of sacrifice, whereas the first procedure showed the accumulation and subsequent dispersion of plasma protein following disruption of the blood-brain barrier. RESULTS: Regions of the cortex highlighted by the T2-weighted images corresponded well to the pattern of dye staining seen from the first procedure while the diffusion-weighted images showed visual correspondence with the staining pattern obtained using the second procedure. CONCLUSIONS: These results illustrate the complementary use of T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in discerning the pathophysiology of developing lesions.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Diffusion-weighted imaging of kainic acid lesions in the rat brain.

We present T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted images of kainic acid lesions in the rat brain. Our observations show improved image contrast between edematous lesions and unaffected tissue using diffusion-weighted imaging. Furthermore, we show that the anisotropic intensity changes associated with this sequence can be used to highlight white matter tracts and to provide information concerning their orientation in the rat brain.

Amygdala↗