Measurement of changes in cerebral blood volume in spontaneously hypertensive rats following L-arginine infusion using dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI

To understand whether the NO-dependent vasodilator L-arginine was effective upon a chronically hypertensive cerebral capillary endothelium, dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI was used to measure the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) changes in nonischemic spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). rCBV was measured in 11 rats at 4.7 T using fast gradient echo imaging with intravenous injection of Gd-DTPA. Images were acquired before, immediately after, and up to 90 min after the infusion of 300 mg/kg L-arginine (n = 7) or of an equivalent volume of saline (n = 4). L-arginine increased rCBV in cortex beginning 10 min after infusion and reached significance after 30 min (P