4D cardiac MRI in the mouse.

With the introduction of mouse models for the study of cardiac morphogenesis, there arises a need for new imaging protocols that can capture both morphological and functional information. High-resolution 2D cardiac cine MRI has often been used to quantify left and right ventricular function. In this study we propose a 3D isotropic cardiac cine MRI protocol with a voxel size of 200 microm(3) as a means of studying cardiac multi-chamber morphology and function. A black blood sequence was used to enhance blood myocardium contrast. Manual segmentation of the ventricles was used to measure ventricular volumes at end diastole and end systole. This method is demonstrated on an Irx4-deficient mouse model. We have been able to identify the volumes of both ventricles dynamically and to show differences in ejection fraction in the mutant. We have also identified an abnormality of the papillary muscle in the mutant that had been missed in previous phenotyping with ultrasound and histology.