Estimating The Sodium Ion Diffusion Coefficient in Rat Brain
James A Goodman · AIP conference proceedings · 2004
Quantifying sodium ion diffusion in the extra‐ and intracellular compartments will provide mechanistic insight into the as yet unexplained marked decrease in water diffusion resulting from central nervous system injury. As a first step, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of bulk brain Na+ has been determined in vivo in rat. A surface coil transmit/receive adiabatic‐pulse scheme is used to provide two dimensions of volume localization, thus minimizing echo time. The third dimension is determined by slice selection gradients on the axis perpendicular to the coil plane. Signal decay in the presence of diffusion sensitizing pulsed field gradients was modeled by Bayesian Probability Theory. Preliminary findings indicate a bulk Na+ ADC of (1.16 ± .07) × 10−3 mm2/s.