MRI Animal Imaging

CSIC operates two small animal MRI scanners. A 9.4T/20-cm Bruker animal MR imaging/spectroscopy system is housed 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 a LINUX workstation and Bruker ParaVision 360.3.5 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 studies and the other with 800 Watt broadband amplifier (frequency range from 6 to 365 MHz) for X-nucleus NMR studies. A quadrature volume coil optimized for imaging rodent brains and a variety of surface coils are also available. The scanner is equipped with a state-of-the-art BFG 200/115-S-14 12-cm diameter gradient insert from RRI (maximum gradient strength 675 mT/m, 120 usec risetime), and actively shielded BG-6 gradient set (6 cm, maximum gradient strength of 1000 mT/m, 55 usec risetime), all driven by Copley 200A/300V Gradient Amplifiers. Peripheral equipment including a) physiological signals monitoring system (SA Instruments) used for synchronizing MR acquisitions with ECG or respiration triggering signals; b) animal anesthesia and physiology maintenance system; c) acoustic, optic, and electrical stimulation accessories for functional study. This system is suitable for studying mice, rats, 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. This new small animal MRI scanner provides high-resolution functional and anatomical imaging for mice and rats, and includes advanced sequences for functional MRI, diffusion-weighted MRI, cardiac cines, angiography, and more. To learn more about the technical capabilities of the 11.7T MRI, or to discuss protocol imaging needs, contact Shella Keilholz, PhD (CSIC Animal MRI Program Director), or Jaekeun Park, PhD (CSIC Animal MRI Scientist). For information about how to get started with CSIC’s small animal imaging services, see our CSIC Animal MR Imaging User Guide.