Systemic inflammation causes cerebral hypoperfusion, reductions in brain susceptibility and hippocampal hypoxia: a 9.4T MRI animal study

Inflammation is a pathological characteristic of multiple sclerosis (MS). Individuals with MS are reported to experience reductions in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and brain hypoxia (low oxygenation). The cause of these phenomena is not well-known. We studied the possible association between inflammation and hypoxia in an inflammatory mouse model by quantifying CBF (arterial-spin labeling MRI) and magnetic susceptibility (quantitative susceptibility mapping), as well as measuring hippocampal oxygen using oxygen-sensitive probes. We found that inflammation is associated with reductions in CBF, brain susceptibility, and hippocampal oxygenation. This supports the idea that inflammation can induce brain hypoxia and disrupt cerebrovascular autoregulation.