Volumetric analysis of mice lungs in a clinical magnetic resonance imaging scanner.
Small animal models are widely used to study various pathologies. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows investigation of these animals in a non-invasive way. Therefore, the aim of our study was to develop and evaluate a low-cost approach to measure lung volumes in small animal MRI using a clinical scanner and a specially designed RF coil. Five mice (three of an established emphysema model and two controls) were investigated in a 1.0-T clinical scanner using a specially built small animal saddle coil and three different three-dimensional sequences; overall imaging time was approximately 16 min. Lung volumes were calculated from these images using an interactive watershed transform algorithm for semi-automatic image segmentation. The gold standard for the volume measurement was water displacement after surgical explantation. MRI measured volumes correlated significantly with ex vivo measurements on the explanted lungs (r = 0.99 to 0.89; p < 0.05). Mean lung volume in emphysema model mice was larger than in controls. High-resolution, small animal MRI using a clinical scanner is feasible for volumetric analysis and provides an alternative to a dedicated small animal scanner.
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Philipps University, 35033 Marburg, Germany. heverhagen.1@osu.edu
Johannes T
JT
Heverhagen
Horst K
HK
Hahn
Michael
M
Wegmann
Udo
U
Herz
Chastity D
CD
Shaffer Whitaker
Volker
V
Matschl
Heiko
H
Alfke
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004646:Emphysema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers