Figure 7.

Low resolution T₂-weighted MR images (234 μm × 469 μm × 700 μm, TE=20 ms) and corresponding T₂ maps of the saline-treated guinea-pig cochlea, and T₂ maps of LPS-treated guinea-pig cochlea and brain tissues over 7 days after LPS treatment and the comparison of T₂ values from ROIs covering the areas as shown in Figure 6. a: There are no noticeable differences in T₂ mapping of the saline-treated guinea-pig at baseline and on day 2. b: Note that in T₂ maps on days 2 and 3 the cochlear tissues were almost invisible except for few pixels located in the endolymphatic fluid space. These maps were generated using the following set of parameters for the MRI plugin: R² > 0.90, clip value < 1 s, over/under thresholds=0.02 s/0.5 s and bilinear interpolation. c: The graph shows the mean±SEM of the T₂ values calculated in the brain tissues, modiolus, and for both cochleae in the basal turn (BT), middle turn (MT), and apical turn (AT). The histological cross-section (inset) shows the location of cochlear turns. The T₂ values calculated for control guinea-pigs at baseline and day 2 were averaged. Note that there were significant decreases in T₂ for all cochlear turns and the modiolus between baseline and day 2 (p_BT=0.0096, p_MT=0.0002, p_AT=0.0015, p_Mod=0.0112). In contrast, T₂ was not significantly different in brain tissues (p=0.0844).