Oxygenation‐sensitive contrast in magnetic resonance image of rodent brain at high magnetic fields

TLDR

High‑field (7–8.4 T) gradient‑echo imaging of live rodent brains at 65 × 65 µm resolution exploits deoxyhemoglobin‑induced magnetic‑susceptibility differences that cause intra‑voxel dephasing of water signals. The resulting contrast reveals dark vascular lines that are absent in spin‑echo images, appear only when deoxyhemoglobin rises, and are most pronounced in anoxic brains, providing clear anatomical detail at high field and resolution. © 1990 Academic Press, Inc.

Abstract

Abstract At high magnetic fields (7 and 8.4 T), water proton magnetic resonance images of brains of live mice and rats under pentobarbital anesthetization have been measured by a gradient echo pulse sequence with a spatial resolution of 65 × 65‐μm pixel size and 700‐μm slice thickness. The contrast in these images depicts anatomical details of the brain by numerous dark lines of various sizes. These lines are absent in the image taken by the usual spin echo sequence. They represent the blood vessels in the image slice and appear when the deoxyhemoglobin content in the red cells increases. This contrast is most pronounced in an anoxy brain but not present in a brain with diamagnetic oxy or carbon monoxide hemoglobin. The local field induced by the magnetic susceptibility change in the blood due to the paramagnetic deoxyhemoglobin causes the intra voxel dephasing of the water signals of the blood and the surrounding tissue. This oxygena‐tion‐dependent contrast is appreciable in high field images with high spatial resolution. © 1990 Academic Press, Inc.