Epoxy-resin injection of the cerebral arterial microvasculature: An evaluation of the limits of spatial resolution in 8 Tesla MRI.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the spatial resolution of microscopic arteries on magnetic resonance images acquired at 8 Tesla (T). Techniques similar to those used for standard MRI of the human brain in vivo at 8 T were utilized to generate high-resolution gradient echo (GE) images of a whole postmortem human brain whose common carotid arterial system had been injected with an epoxy-resin. Single slice images, along with summed images of up to 5 contiguous slices, were then compared to color digital photographs detailing the distribution of the arterial system on the surface of the same injected brain. There was excellent MR visualization of the microscopic cerebral arteries down to a spatial resolution of 200 microm. Through the use of an 8 T whole-body MRI scanner and standard GE imaging sequences, microscopic arterial structures can be clearly resolved down to a dimension of 200 microm.