Magnetic resonance elastography captures a transient benefit of exercise intervention on forebrain stiffness in a rat model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), a group of prevalent conditions resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure, affect the maturation of cerebral white matter as first identified with neuroimaging. However, traditional methods are unable to track subtle microstructural alterations to white matter. This preliminary study uses a highly sensitive and clinically translatable magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) protocol to assess brain tissue microstructure through its mechanical properties following an exercise intervention in a rat model of FASD.

Minimizing Measurement-Induced Errors in Viscoelastic MR Elastography.

The inverse problem that underlies Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is sensitive to the measurement data and the quality of the results of this tissue elasticity imaging process can be influenced both directly and indirectly by measurement noise. In this work, we apply a coupled adjoint field formulation of the viscoelastic constitutive parameter identification problem, where the indirect influence of noise through applied boundary conditions is avoided. A well-posed formulation of the coupled field problem is obtained through conditions applied to the adjoint field, relieving the computed displacement field from kinematic errors on the boundary.

Monitoring lasting changes to brain tissue integrity through mechanical properties following adolescent exercise intervention in a rat model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

Background: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) encompass a group of highly prevalent conditions resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. Alcohol exposure during the third trimester of pregnancy overlapping with the brain growth spurt is detrimental to white matter growth and myelination, particularly in the corpus callosum, ultimately affecting tissue integrity in adolescence. Traditional neuroimaging techniques have been essential for assessing neurodevelopment in affected youth; however, these methods are limited in their capacity to track subtle microstructural alterations to white matter, thus restricting their effectiveness in monitoring therapeutic intervention.