Magnetic resonance histology for morphologic phenotyping

Abstract

Magnetic resonance histology (MRH) images of the whole mouse have been acquired at 100-micron isotropic resolution at 2.0T with image arrays of 256 x 256 x 1024. Higher resolution (50 x 50 x 50 microns) of limited volumes has been acquired at 7.1T with image arrays of 512 x 512 x 512. Even higher resolution images (20 x 20 x 20 microns) of isolated organs have been acquired at 9,4T, The volume resolution represents an increase of 625,000× over conventional clinical MRI, The technological basis is summarized that will allow basic scientists to begin using MRH as a routine method for morphologcic phenotyping of the mouse. MRH promises four unique attributes over conventional histology: 1) MRH is non-destructive; 2) MRH exploits the unique contrast mechanisms that have made MRI so successful clinically; 3) MRH is 3-dimensional; and 4) the data are inherently digital. We demonstrate the utility in morphologic phenotyping a whole C57BL/6J mouse.