National Institutes of Health 5I01BX005952-04

Multi-scale MRI Assessment of Bone Quality and Function in a Chronic Rat Spinal Cord Injury Model

The award supports development of advanced MRI techniques to assess bone quality in spinal cord injury models, aiming to create non-invasive biomarkers and understand sympathetic nervous system effects on bone health.

Description

This project aims to develop and validate novel quantitative MRI techniques, including ultrashort echo time (UTE) methods, to assess multi-scale features of bone such as macro- and micro-structure, vascularity, and molecular chemical properties. The goal is to establish a panel of non-invasive MRI biomarkers for bone quality assessment in SCI patients, tested on cadaveric samples and validated in a chronic rat SCI model. The project hypothesizes that these biomarkers will reliably measure bone quality, correlate with reference standards like µCT and histology, and detect longitudinal changes associated with SCI. It also explores the role of sympathetic nervous system activity in bone remodeling and dysfunction, with the potential to mitigate these effects through sympathetic inhibition. Expected outcomes include an optimized MRI panel for bone evaluation in SCI, insights into bone recovery with neuromodulation, and pioneering research into sympathetic nervous system effects on sublesional bone in vivo.

View original record