Prognosis and treatment evaluation of spinal cord injury (SCI) are still in the long-term research stage. Prognostic factors for SCI treatment need effective biomarker to assess therapeutic effect. Quantitative diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) may become a potential indicators for assessing SCI repair. However, its correlation with the results of locomotor function recovery and tissue repair has not been carefully studied. The aim of this study was to use quantitative DTI to predict neurological repair of SCI with transplanting collagen/chitosan scaffold binding basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). To achieve our research goals, T10 complete transection SCI model was established. Then collagen/chitosan mixture adsorbed with bFGF (CCS/bFGF) were implanted into rats with SCI. At 8 weeks after modeling, implanting CCS/bFGF demonstrated more significant improvements in locomotor function according to Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) score, inclined-grid climbing test, and electrophysiological examinations. DTI was carried out to evaluate the repair of axons by diffusion tensor tractgraphy (DTT), fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), a numerical measure of relative white matter from the rostral to the caudal. Parallel to locomotor function recovery, the CCS/bFGF group could significantly promote the regeneration of nerve fibers tracts according to DTT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Bielschowsky's silver staining and immunofluorescence staining. Positive correlations between imaging and locomotor function or histology were found at all locations from the rostral to the caudal (P < 0.0001). These results demonstrated that DTI might be used as an effective predictor for evaluating neurological repair after SCI in experimental trails and clinical cases.

中文翻译：

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扩散张量成像预测与胶原蛋白/壳聚糖支架结合的bFGF移植对脊髓损伤的神经修复。

脊髓损伤（SCI）的预后和治疗评估仍处于长期研究阶段。SCI治疗的预后因素需要有效的生物标志物来评估治疗效果。定量扩散张量成像（DTI）可能成为评估SCI修复的潜在指标。但是，其与运动功能恢复和组织修复的结果之间的相关性尚未得到仔细研究。这项研究的目的是使用定量DTI预测胶原/壳聚糖支架结合碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）移植对SCI的神经修复。为了实现我们的研究目标，建立了T10完整横切SCI模型。然后将吸附有bFGF的胶原蛋白/壳聚糖混合物（CCS / bFGF）植入患有SCI的大鼠中。建模后的8周，根据Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan（BBB）评分，斜栅爬升试验和电生理检查，植入CCS / bFGF可以显着改善运动功能。进行DTI评估弥散张量图（DTT），分数各向异性（FA）和表观弥散系数（ADC）轴突的修复，这是从鼻端到尾端相对白质的数值测量。与运动功能恢复平行，根据DTT，磁共振成像（MRI），Bielschowsky的银染和免疫荧光染色，CCS / bFGF组可以显着促进神经纤维束的再生。从头到尾的所有位置均发现影像学与运动功能或组织学之间呈正相关（P <0.0001）。