Fig. 4.

Representative baseline myocardial T₁ before contrast agent injection. Myocardial T₁ map of (a) a healthy rat showed uniform T₁ value throughout the left ventricle (LV) myocardium; (b) whereas, myocardial T₁ map of a rat with acute MI revealed regional higher T₁ in the proximal area of ligation (anterior-lateral and lateral myocardium), probably because of edema occurred right after the ligation; The blood T₁ in the LV cavity was deliberately suppressed to better demonstrate the LV myocardium contour. (c) Plot of each individual baseline myocardial T₁ values of the eight measurements in healthy rats, and in the remote and proximal regions towards LAD ligation in the eight rats with acute MI; (d) The mean baseline myocardial T₁ values and their SD in the healthy rats, and in the remote and proximal regions of the rats with ligation. T₁ in the proximal regions supplied by the ligated arteries was significantly different from that in the remote area of the same rat, and from the one in healthy rat.