Design and construction of an interchangeable RF coil system for rodent spinal cord MR imaging at 9.4 T.

ABSTRACT: Rodent models of spinal cord injury (SCI) have been widely used in pre-clinical studies. Injuries may occur at different levels of the lumbar and thoracic cord, and the number of segments injured and their depths may vary along the spine. It is thereby challenging to build one universal RF coil that exhibits optimal performance for all spinal cord imaging applications, especially in an animal scanner with small in-bore space and limited hardware configurations. We developed an interchangeable RF coil system for a 9.4 T small animal MRI scanner, in which the users can select an optimal coil specialized for imaging specific parts of a rat spine. We also developed the associated animal management device for immobilization and positioning. The whole system allows ease of RF coil exchange, anim

SUBMITTER: Lu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8556357 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature