Empirical and Theoretical Characterization of the Diffusion Process of Different Gadolinium-Based Nanoparticles within the Brain Tissue after Ultrasound-Induced Permeabilization of the Blood-Brain Barrier

Figure 4

In vivo experiments performed with Dotarem where the BBB has been opened in the left striatum. Figure (a) shows the concentration maps acquired between 2 and 66 minutes after the injection. The masked maps used to perform the Gaussian fits are shown in row (b), while the Gaussian surfaces obtained with the fit are pictured in (c). By comparing, through a two-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, the data shown in (c) with the respective Gaussian profiles at each time point, we obtained values equal to 5.6e − 4; 0.258, 0.258, 0.440, and 0.2581. (d) shows Gaussian profiles (red line), fitting the [CA] values (black dots), in the rows going through the centers of the spots in (b). The squares of the Gaussian widths, σ_X and σ_Y, are plotted over the diffusion time with the linear fit σ²_X,Y = D_X,Y,vivo · 2t in (e), where the green and the orange colors refer to σ_X² and σ_Y², respectively.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)