A dedicated two-channel phased-array receiver coil for high-resolution MRI of the rat knee cartilage at 7 T.

In the field of small animal studies, the array coil imaging has become increasingly important. In this paper, a dedicated two-channel array coil operating at 300 MHz (7 T) for high-resolution MRI (HR-MRI) of the rat knee cartilage is presented. The average gain in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to a 15-mm multipurpose surface coil was 2.

A dedicated two-element phased array receiver coil for high resolution MRI of rat knee cartilage at 7T.

Despite that on clinical systems phased array technology is now widely used, the high field MRI experimental systems with multiple receiver channels just became available few years ago. For this reason and due to the large range of magnetic field (frequencies between 200 and 500 MHz for proton resonance), commercial phased arrays implemented in narrow bore for high field applications are rare and relatively expensive. Array coil imaging is an advanced method for acquiring high resolution images with enhanced Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and/or enlarged Field Of View (FOV) compared for example to single loop surface coil.

Non-invasive in vivo quantification of the medial tibial cartilage thickness progression in an osteoarthritis rabbit model with quantitative 3D high resolution micro-MRI.

Objective: To develop a quantitative non-invasive in vivo three-dimensional (3D) high resolution (HR) micro-magnetic resonance imaging (microMRI) protocol to measure the medial tibial cartilage thickness (MT.ThC) in the normal rabbit and in the anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) rabbit model of osteoarthritis and quantify the progression of MT.ThC.

Fast screening of paramagnetic molecules in zebrafish embryos by MRI.

Zebrafish embryo is a well-established model used in many fields of modern experimental biology. We demonstrate that it provides a promising model platform for exploring fundamental MR aspects that can be used to screen and study active MR molecules before progressing to more complex living systems. Setting up a dedicated MRI methodology, we arrayed a large number of living embryos, which were microinjected at very early stages of development with different contrast agents.