Longitudinal MR imaging study in the prediction of ischemic susceptibility after cerebral hypoperfusion in rats: Influence of aging and hypertension

•Aging and hypertension can cause alteration of ADC and CBF.•MR ADC and CBF can be used to evaluate ischemic susceptibility after cerebral hypoperfusion.•Pre-operation ADC and post-operation CBF and ADC/CBF ratio can predict ischemic susceptibility.

Our previous study has shown that aging and hypertension may alter apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) and increase ischemic susceptibility in the non-ischemic rat brain. The present study wishes to further investigate whether aging and hypertension may influence cerebral diffusion/perfusion and increase ischemic susceptibility in the ischemic brain. Brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was examined 1 day before and 1 and 7 days after bilateral common carotid artery occlusion. Young and middle-aged normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats and young and middle-aged spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were studied. Infarction occurred mainly in the parietal cortex and was larger in middle-aged SHRs than the other three groups (P < 0.05). In pre-operation, ADC was higher and CBF was lower in middle-aged/hypertensive rats than young/normotensive rats (P < 0.05). The ADC was higher in the parietal cortex of the rats with infarction at 7 days when compared to the rats without infarction [receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), P = 0.001; binary logistic regression (BLR), P = 0.006]. However, there was no difference in the hippocampus and thalamus. At day 1 post-operation, CBF reduced and ADC/CBF ratio elevated significantly in the parietal cortex of the rats with infarction when compared to the rats without infarction (CBF: ROC, P = 0.002; BLR, P = 0.017. ADC/CBF ratio: ROC, P = 0.001; BLR, P = 0.018). Our results demonstrated that pre-operation ADC and post-operation CBF and ADC/CBF ratio can be used as good MR markers in the prediction of ischemic susceptibility after cerebral hypoperfusion.