Combined Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Discern Discrete Facets of White Matter Pathology Post-injury in the Rodent Brain

Early loss of white matter microstructure integrity is a significant cause of long-term neurological disorders following traumatic brain injury (TBI). White matter abnormalities typically involve axonal loss and demyelination. In-vivo imaging tools to detect and differentiate such microstructural changes are not well-explored. This work utilizes the conjoint potential offered by advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques, including quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to discern the underlying white matter pathology at specific time points (5 h, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days) post-injury in the controlled cortical impact mouse model. A total of 42 animals were randomized into six TBI groups (n = 6 per group) and one sham group (n = 6). Histopathology was performed to validate in-vivo findings by performing myelin basic protein (MBP) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunostaining for the assessment of changes to myelin and astrocytes. After 5 h of injury radial diffusivity (RD) was increased in white matter without a significant change in axial diffusivity (AxD) and susceptibility values. After 1 day post-injury RD was decreased. AxD and susceptibility changes were seen after 3 days post-injury. Susceptibility increases in white matter were observed in both ipsilateral and contralateral regions and persisted for 30 days. In histology, an increase in GFAP immunoreactivity was observed after 3 days post-injury and remained high for 30 days in both ipsilateral and contralateral white matter regions. A loss in MBP signal was noted after 3 days post-injury that continued up to 30 days. In conclusion, these results demonstrate the complementary ability of DTI and QSM in discerning the micro-pathological processes triggered following TBI. While DTI revealed acute and focal white matter changes, QSM mirrored the temporal demyelination in the white matter tracts and diffuse regions at the chronic state.