title: Cranial MRI of small rodents using a clinical MR scanner.
abstract: Increasing numbers of small animal models are in use in the field of neuroscience research. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an excellent method for non-invasive imaging of the brain. Using three-dimensional (3D) MR sequences allows lesion volumetry, e.g. for the quantification of tumor size. Specialized small-bore animal MRI scanners are available for high-resolution MRI of small rodents' brain, but major drawbacks of this dedicated equipment are its high costs and thus its limited availability. Therefore, more and more research groups use clinical MR scanners for imaging small animal models. But to achieve a reasonable spatial resolution at an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio with these scanners, some requirements concerning sequence parameters have to be matched. Thus, the aim of this paper was to present in detail a method how to perform MRI of small rodents brain using a standard clinical 1.5 T scanner and clinically available radio frequency coils to keep material costs low and to circumvent the development of custom-made coils.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Munich, Grosshadern, Marchioninistrasse 15, 81377 Munich, Germany. linn@nrad.de
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Linn
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schichor
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wiesmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D049628:Body Size; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000191:economics; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D020814:Meningitis, Escherichia coli / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012377:Rodentia / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology