Proton/Deuterium Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Rodents at 9.4T Using Birdcage Coils

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to fabricate a volume coil for proton/deuterium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in rodents at 9.4 T. Two birdcage radiofrequency (RF) coils have been designed for proton/deuterium MRI: the rungs of two concentric birdcages were azimuthally interleaved with each other for better decoupling, and the two coils were tuned to 400.3 and 61.4 MHz for 1H/2H resonance at 9.4 T. Compared to a commercially available coil, the proposed 1H/2H RF coil provides reasonable transmission efficiency and imaging signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR); the relationships among imaging parameters such as SNR, voxel size, and deuterium oxide concentrations have been quantitatively studied, and the linear correlation results together with the spectroscopic data in vivo indicate its feasibility in deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) in vivo. Our study indicates that using the birdcage design for MRI signal excitation combined with surface coil array for signal reception can facilitate DMI investigations more effectively towards future pre‐clinical and clinical applications. As a noninvasive method by measuring nonhydrogen nuclear deuterium signals to reflect metabolite information, DMI will feature prominently in future precision medicine through the whole process of diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. © 2021 Bioelectromagnetics Society.

A Preliminary Study for Reference RF Coil at 11.7 T MRI: Based on Electromagnetic Field Simulation of Hybrid-BC RF Coil According to Diameter and Length at 3.0, 7.0 and 11.7 T

“…The increased intensity of magnetic field will allow the acquisition of anatomical and functional information at high resolution. Among the various practical designs of RF coils used for NMR imaging and EUHF MRI, birdcage RF coils are widely used, with applications ranging from low-field MRI systems to ultra-high-end MRI systems [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90]. Recently, BC RF coils have been actively used in clinical applications [8,83,84] and pre-clinical animal experimental studies [85,86].…”

“…Among the various practical designs of RF coils used for NMR imaging and EUHF MRI, birdcage RF coils are widely used, with applications ranging from low-field MRI systems to ultra-high-end MRI systems [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90]. Recently, BC RF coils have been actively used in clinical applications [8,83,84] and pre-clinical animal experimental studies [85,86]. In particular, it is widely used in multinuclear MRI requiring high SNR and uniformity [77,[87][88][89][90].…”

Deuterium imaging of the Warburg effect at sub‐millimolar concentrations by joint processing of the kinetic and spectral dimensions

“…The advent of new acquisition approaches and of higher magnetic fields has led to techniques that achieve this by directly observing signals from low‐concentration metabolites, exploiting both protons and lower gyromagnetic ratio ( γ ) nuclei 3,4 . Counted among the latter is the injection and observation of deuterated precursors and their products via 2 H MR, in what is known as deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) 5–17 . DMI's features make it a promising tool for tumor prognosis and diagnosis.…”

“…3,4 Counted among the latter is the injection and observation of deuterated precursors and their products via 2 H MR, in what is known as deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI). [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] DMI's features make it a promising tool for tumor prognosis and diagnosis. In particular, [6,6'-2 H 2 ]-glucose administered to subjects can be taken up by tumors and converted there to [3,3'-2 H 2 ]-lactate through anaerobic glycolysis, as well as into [ 2 H]-water (HDO) by this and other pathways.…”

Development of a 7T 1H/2H dual-tuned transceiver separation active decoupler MRI probe

“…Hyperpolarized 13 C magnetic resonance imaging can provide excellent signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution but poses new technical challenges for aspects such as hyperpolarization and fast MRSI [1] [2]. Deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) has been recently proposed, combining deuterium-labeled substrates with studying metabolic pathways and mapping glucose uptake and metabolism [3][4][5][6][7][8]. To address existing methods' shortcomings, deuterium-labeled substrates and their metabolites require protons as background signals for detection, so it is necessary to develop 1 H/ 2 H dual resonance RF coils to collect two different nuclear signals.…”