Hardware Considerations for Preclinical Magnetic Resonance of the Kidney

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive imaging technology that offers unparalleled anatomical and functional detail, along with diagnostic sensitivity. MRI is suitable for longitudinal studies due to the lack of exposure to ionizing radiation. Before undertaking preclinical MRI investigations of the kidney, the appropriate MRI hardware should be carefully chosen to balance the competing demands of image quality, spatial resolution, and imaging speed, tailored to the specific scientific objectives of the investigation. Here we describe the equipment needed to perform renal MRI in rodents, with the aim to guide the appropriate hardware selection to meet the needs of renal MRI applications.This publication is based upon work from the COST Action PARENCHIMA, a community-driven network funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) program of the European Union, which aims to improve the reproducibility and standardization of renal MRI biomarkers. This chapter on hardware considerations for renal MRI in small animals is complemented by two separate publications describing the experimental procedure and data analysis.

The Proton Resonance Enhancement for CEST imaging and Shift Exchange (PRECISE) family of RF pulse shapes for Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer MRI

“…The relaxation and semi-solid pool parameters were set based on previous studies on CEST and magnetization transfer contrast. [28][29][30][31] The parameters include: semi-solid pool concentration (𝑀 " $ ) = 1,554 mM, CEST concentration (𝑀 % $ ) = 50 mM, B0 field = 11.7 T (500 MHz), kba = 20 s -1 , kca = 500 -6,500 s -1 , T1a = 2 sec, T1b = 1 sec, T1c = 1 sec, T2a = 60 msec, T2b = 10 µsec, T2c =100 msec. We employed a 1 msec timestep for optimizing the 100 msec pulses (100 steps per 100 msec pulse) and a delay between of 1 to 100 msec between the pulses with a total of 2000 total steps for this pre-saturation pulse train including the pulses and delays.…”