Changes of Dorsal Root Ganglion Volume in Dogs with Clinical Signs of Degenerative Myelopathy Detected by Water-Excitation Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Simple Summary Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a chronic, progressive, and fatal neurodegenerative disease. Although degenerative changes in dogs with DM are observed not only in the spinal cord white matter but also the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, these changes are undetectable on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, we investigated the ability of water-excitation MRI to visualize the DRG in dogs, and whether volumetry of DRG has a premortem diagnostic value for DM. Using water-excitation MRI, DRG could be depicted in all dogs. To normalize the volumes of DRG, body surface area was the most suitable denominator. The normalized DRG volume in dogs with DM was significantly lower than those in control dogs and dogs with intervertebral disc herniation. The results of this study revealed that widespread atrophy of DRG was likely to occur in DM. Moreover, volume reductions of DRG were observed in dogs with DM in both the early disease stage and late disease stage. Our research suggests that the DRG volume obtained by the water-excitation technique could be used as a clinical biomarker for DM. Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease. However, a definitive diagnosis of DM can only be achieved by postmortem histopathological examination of the spinal cord. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the volumetry of DRG using the ability of water-excitation magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the DRG in dogs has premortem diagnostic value for DM. Eight dogs with DM, twenty-four dogs with intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH), and eight control dogs were scanned using a 3.0-tesla MRI system, and water-excitation images were obtained to visualize and measure the volume of DRG, normalized by body surface area. The normalized mean DRG volume between each spinal cord segment and mean volume of all DRG between T8 and L2 in the DM group was significantly lower than that in the control and the IVDH groups (P = 0.011, P = 0.002, respectively). There were no correlations within the normalized mean DRG volume between DM stage 1 and stage 4 (r(s) = 0.312, P = 0.128, respectively). In conclusion, DRG volumetry by the water-excitation MRI provides a non-invasive and quantitative assessment of neurodegeneration in DRG and may have diagnostic potential for DM.

Automated summary

Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a chronic, progressive, and fatal neurodegenerative disease that results in atrophy of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). Water-excitation MRI was used to visualize and measure the volume of DRG, which was found to be significantly lower in dogs with DM compared to control dogs and dogs with intervertebral disc herniation. This study suggests that DRG volumetry by water-excitation MRI could serve as a clinical biomarker for DM.