Cerebral hypoxia-ischemia: focus on the use of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy in research on animals.

Cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury represents a serious health problem and is the third leading cause of mortality in developed countries. Early diagnosis of hypoxic-ischemic injury to the brain is inevitable for timely and efficient treatment. However, routinely applied cranial ultrasonography or computed tomography is often not sensitive enough to detect cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury in its early stages. Therefore searching for a more effective diagnostic tool has been an intensive process in many laboratories within the last decades. Nowadays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) are the most promising non-invasive and non-destructive tools working in-real-time. These magnetic resonance-based techniques are progressively utilized in neurological and neonatology departments to confirm or refute cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury in adults and neonates. The purpose of the present paper was therefore (i) to provide a brief overview on mechanisms of hypoxic-ischemic injury to the brain and (ii) to summarize main findings of both clinical reports and experimental studies, performed on various animal models of brain hypoxia-ischemia, with a particular focus on the monitoring of the evolving cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury by means of in vivo MRI and MRS.