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• Original Articles •
Dynamic evolution of white matter injury following germinal matrix hemorrhage in neonatal rats: A longitudinal study based on diffusion tensor imaging
GUO Chenxi  QIN Chi  ZHANG Xiaoan  MIAO Chenxu  LI Mengran  LIU Lingyue  ZHANG Penghua  YANG Jinze  ZHAO Xin 

Cite this article as: GUO C X, QIN C, ZHANG X A, et al. Dynamic evolution of white matter injury following germinal matrix hemorrhage in neonatal rats: A longitudinal study based on diffusion tensor imaging[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(3): 68-77. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.03.010.


[Abstract] Objective To investigate the spatiotemporal progression of white matter injury following germinal matrix hemorrhage (GMH) using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to explore the neuroinflammatory response and motor function outcomes.Materials and Methods A total of 38 postnatal day 5 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to either a GMH group (induced by collagenase injection) or a sham-operated control group. Longitudinal MRI scans, including T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), were performed at 12 hours, and 1, 3, 5, and 30 days post-surgery. Quantitative analysis of DTI parameters, fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD), was conducted in 7 regions of interest (ROI): the striatum, hippocampus, internal capsule, external capsule, corpus callosum, motor cortex, and somatosensory cortex. Acute neuroinflammation was assessed via Western blot (WB), quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Long-term motor function was evaluated using the pole test.Results DTI analysis revealed significantly decreased FA values accompanied by increased MD and RD values in multiple brain regions in the GMH group, indicating compromised white matter integrity. FA values in the striatum declined significantly from 1 day post-GMH onward (P < 0.001), and this decrease was sustained through 30 days (P = 0.004), along with elevated MD and RD values (P < 0.05). In the hippocampus, FA values began to decline at 3 days post-GMH compared with controls (P < 0.05) and remained lower until 30 days (P < 0.05), with concurrent elevations in MD, AD, and RD (P < 0.05). By 30 days post-GMH, FA values in all seven ROIs on the injured side were significantly lower than those on the contralateral side (P < 0.05), indicating clear lateralization of white matter injury. Molecular analyses showed a significant upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α; P < 0.001) and marked activation of both microglia and astrocytes during the acute phase post-GMH. Behavioral testing showed a significantly prolonged descent time in the pole test for the GMH group (P < 0.05), demonstrating a correlation between white matter structural damage and motor dysfunction.Conclusions DTI sensitively captures dynamic microstructural alterations in white matter following GMH. These structural alterations are significantly associated with neuroinflammatory responses and long-term motor deficits. Our findings provide crucial imaging evidence for understanding the underlying mechanisms of GMH pathology.
[Keywords] germinal matrix hemorrhage；diffusion tensor imaging；magnetic resonance imaging；neonatal rats；white matter injury；neuroinflammation

GUO Chenxi1, 2, 3   QIN Chi1, 3   ZHANG Xiaoan1, 3   MIAO Chenxu1, 3   LI Mengran2   LIU Lingyue1, 3   ZHANG Penghua1, 3   YANG Jinze1, 3   ZHAO Xin1, 2, 3*  

1 Department of Radiology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China

2 Tianjian Laboratory of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China

3 Department of Clinical Research and Translational Medicine, Henan Joint International Research Laboratory of Neuroimaging, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China

Corresponding author: ZHAO X, E-mail: zdsfyzx@zzu.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-12-01
Accepted  2026-03-09
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.03.010
Cite this article as: GUO C X, QIN C, ZHANG X A, et al. Dynamic evolution of white matter injury following germinal matrix hemorrhage in neonatal rats: A longitudinal study based on diffusion tensor imaging[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(3): 68-77. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.03.010.

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