We have investigated whether the differentiation potential of attached cultures derived from the mouse lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE) is influenced by in vitro expansion. Primary neuronal cultures derived from the LGE give rise to neurons expressing the striatal projection neuron markers Islet1 (ISL1) and dopamine and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein of 32 kilodaltons (DARPP-32) as well as the ...

BACKGROUND Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive disease that occurs in males leading to immobility and death in early adulthood. Female carriers of DMD are generally asymptomatic, yet frequently develop dilated cardiomyopathy. This study aims to detect early cardiac manifestation in DMD using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and to evaluate its association with clin...

Methods Eighty nine consecutive patients were referred for evaluation of CMP by LGE-CMR. Patients were classified as ischemic CMP based on presence of subendocardial and/or transmural LGE in a coronary artery distribution pattern on CMR. Patients with none, midwall or subepicardial LGE pattern were classified as non ischemic CMP. Patients with mixed patterns of LGE (ie: subendocardial and midwa...

Background The transmural extent of myocardial infarction (MI) as assessed by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) CMR predicts functional recovery. In acute MI (AMI), myocardial edema and effects of reperfusion therapy reduce the predictive accuracy of LGE. LGE assesses tissue dichotomously as “viable” or “non-viable”, but does not consider the severity of tissue damage within the hyperenhanced i...

BACKGROUND Fibrosis is a common end point of many pathological processes affecting the myocardium and may alter myocardial relaxation properties. By measuring myocardial fibrosis with cardiac magnetic resonance and diastolic function with Doppler echocardiography, we sought to define the influence of fibrosis on left ventricular diastolic function. METHODS AND RESULTS Two hundred four eligibl...

Methods Consecutive patients with paroxysmal AF in a randomised study comparing pulmonary vein isolation by wide area circumferential radiofrequency ablation (WACA) to ostial ablation with a cryo-balloon (CRYO) underwent CMR late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging preand 3 months post ablation. Imaging was anonymized for blinded analysis of (1) LGE images, and (2) a 3D fusion image with LGE p...

Background Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac MRI is the clinical gold standard for non-invasive characterization of myocardial scar [1]. The LGE technique is a contrast enhanced inversion recovery (IR) FLASH sequence, and requires a priori knowledge of the initial inversion time (TI) to produce optimal contrast between healthy myocardium and scar substrate. The TI is typically assessed ...

Background In both ischemic (ICM) and non-ischemic (NICM) cardiomyopathy late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) is an important cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) technique. LGE CMR, traditionally performed in 2D during multiple breath-holds (MB), is challenging for vulnerable patients and subject to slice misregistration. Therefore, LGE CMR during free-breathing (FB) is more robust and enables...

Background Late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) MRI is the gold standard test for non-invasive detection of myocardial scar. Many VT ablation candidates who would derive benefit from LGE MRI do not undergo cardiac MRI largely due to image artifacts generated by cardiac devices. A recent study reported improved LGE MRI for patients with implantable cardiac devices using a custom-made wideband adiabati...