Hdxt signa mri system

MRI was performed before and every two weeks after the inoculation until the end of follow-up at the eighth week. Briefly, animals were fasted closely on a wooden plate at prone position after deep anaesthetization and scanned with knee coil in a 3.0-T GE HDxt Signa/MRI system (GE Corporation, Connecticut, USA). The parameters were as follows: T1W TE/TR, 8.4 ms/540 ms, T2W TE/TR, 48.2 ms/2000 ms, slice thickness, 3 mm, and Field of View, 20 × 20. All MRI images were evaluated by two authors independently (Z. Chen and Z. Zhou). According to Pfirrmann classification system, the degree of intervertebral discs degeneration was evaluated and classed into five grades [18 (link)].

Lumbar MRI scans were performed before and every two weeks after the surgery until the eighth week. Animals were fasted on a platform after deep anaesthesia with pentobarbital sodium and scanned with knee coil using the 3.0-T GE HDxt Signa/MRI system (GE Corporation, Connecticut, USA). The scanning parameters: T1W TE/TR, 8.4 ms/540 ms, T2W TE/TR, 48.2 ms/2000 ms, slice thickness, 3 mm, and Field of View, 20 × 20. The MRI scans were evaluated by an experienced radiologist and a spinal surgeon. Besides, we also performed quantitative measurements of the end-plate region signal intensity. ImageJ software (version 1.51; National Institutes of Health), was used to measure signal intensity of the superior subchondral bone region adjacent to L4-L5, and L5-L6 on T2 and T1-weighted central images, as previously reported [16 (link)].