Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging Detects Acute Microstructural Changes in White and Gray Matter after Alcohol Intoxication in Rat

Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) is an extension of Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) but based on a non-gaussian diffusion model, allowing more comprehensive characterization of microstructural changes in the brain. The aim of this research was to test the technical feasibility to microstructural changes in the brain of rats with acute alcohol intoxication. Changes in DTI parameters and DKI parameters in the cerebral cortex and the thalamus were investigated in the acute alcohol intoxication rat models (n=25) at the acute (30 min) stages following ethyl alcohol (EtOH) administration. Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK) both show significant decrease in the cortex (FA: p=0.011, MD: p<0.01, MK: p<0.01). However, reduced MK and MD (p<0.01, all) observed in the thalamus while no change here observed with FA. HE staining revealed neurons in edema and disorder, proliferation but loss arrangement of nerve fibers and with some neurons displayed the changes of necrosis and apoptosis. These data demonstrate that DKI may be sensitive in tracking pathophysiological changes associated with acute alcohol intoxication and may provide additional information which may be missed by conventional DTI parameters along.