Time-dependent diffusion discriminates healthy and hypertrophic mouse hearts ex vivo

Motivation: Oscillating gradient spin-echo (OGSE) diffusion MRI provides information about the cardiac microstructure that is complementary to conventional pulsed gradient spin echo (PGSE). Goal(s): Using gradient waveforms with different frequencies enables the assessment of diffusion at sub-cellular length scales. Approach: OGSE diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was applied in the ex vivo mouse heart to investigate the ability of OGSE to disentangle hypertrophic from healthy hearts. Results: Our results show that hypertrophic hearts exhibited significantly different OGSE parameters (8 of 10) compared to control hearts. These and DTI observations are in agreement with expected microstructural changes. Impact: Gradient waveforms with different frequencies enable the assessment of diffusion at sub-cellular length scales. OGSE may potentially serve as an imaging biomarker, to enhance the specificity of measurements with DTI.