MRI Animal Imaging

CSIC operates two small animal MRI scanners. The 9.4T/20 cm Bruker animal MR imaging/spectroscopy system is located at CSIC's reserach imaging facility in the Whitehead Biomedical Research Building. The magnet is actively shielded to reduce the extent of the fringe field. The imaging console is interfaced with a Bruker AVANCE spectrometer driven by LINUX workstation and Bruker ParaVision 5.1 imaging software. The system is equipped with actively decoupled RF coils (volume coil as a transmitter and the surface coil as a receiver) with 2-RF channels: one with 1000 Watt RF amplifier for 1H NMR study and the other with 800 Watt broadband amplifier (frequency range from 6 to 365 MHz) for X-nucleus NMR study. It is equipped with two actively shielded gradient sets with high gradient strength and short rising time, a 12cm diameter Bruker BGA-12 gradient set (maximum gradient strength of 400 mT/m, 88 microsecond risetime) and a 6cm diameter Bruker BG-6 gradient set (maximum gradient strength of 1000 mT/m, 55 microsecond risetime), both driven by Copley 200A/300V Gradient Amplifiers. Peripheral equipment includes: a) a physiological signals monitoring system (BioTrig), used for synchronizing MR acquisitions with ECG or respiration triggering signals; b) an animal anesthesia and physiology maintenance system; c) a comprehensive set of RF coils, suitable for studying different sized animals, different tissues and locations, and different nuclei including proton, ¹⁷O, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, an ³¹P; d) acoustic, optic, and electrical stimulation accessories for functional studies. This system is suitable for studying mice, rats, ferrets and other small animals.

Bruker Biospec 94/20 MRI Scanner

CSIC's newest small animal MRI scanner (Bruker 11.7T) is located in HSRB-II imaging facility. Installation and set up for this scanner is still in process. The estimated timeline to begin onboarding studies for this scanner is late spring 2024. For additional information about MRI imaging capabilities and technical questions about the 11.7T scanner, please contact CSIC's Program Director for Animal MRI or the Manager for the 11.7T imaging facility.