9.4 Tesla Small Animal Magnetic Resonance Scanner

描述(申请人提供)：本申请的目的是为购买9.4T专用小型动物磁共振成像(MRI)扫描仪寻求资金。最近，人们致力于开发非侵入性成像方法来深入了解生物系统，包括计算机断层扫描(CT)、正电子发射断层扫描、单光子发射计算机断层扫描(SPECT)和光学成像。在这些方法中，MR绝对是提供极佳软组织对比度的首选方法，允许对细微的结构异常进行调查。此外，由于MR是完全非侵入性的，因此可以随时进行重复测量，而无需担心辐射影响，因此可以对动物进行纵向研究。这可能会大大减少样本大小，同时实现足够的功率。虽然小动物成像可以独立于场强进行，但可用信噪比(SNR)与场强以及空间分辨率成正比。例如，为了获得足够高信噪比的高分辨率小动物图像，1.5T时所需的数据采集时间大约是9.4T时的36倍，这对于活体小动物成像来说几乎是不可能的。因此，为了获得高质量和高分辨率的小动物图像，在这一应用中要求使用9.4T系统。这样的系统可能会对各种各样的研究项目产生深远的影响，并极大地提高北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的研究人员的研究能力。在我们的申请中列出的研究项目包括与癌症相关的项目，如脑瘤和结直肠癌、神经退行性疾病、心血管、脑血管和神经疾病。所有这些项目目前都需要牺牲动物，无法纵向跟踪每一种动物。因此，9.4T扫描仪的直接好处之一是非侵入性地提供对生物系统的洞察，允许进行纵向研究。此外，通过利用磁共振光谱学以及新的成像方法，功能信息也可以通过所请求的MR扫描仪随时获得。因此，毫无疑问，所要求的9.4T扫描仪将对北卡罗来纳大学教堂山的生物学研究做出重大贡献。最后，建立一个小动物成像中心是北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的首要任务。我们最近设计了一种CT和SPECT扫描仪，用于小动物的成像。所要求的9.4T磁共振扫描仪将肯定发挥至关重要的作用，并大大加强我们在北卡罗来纳大学教堂山建立一个小型动物成像中心的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this application is to seek funding for purchasing a 9.4T dedicated small animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Recently, extensive efforts have been devoted to the development of non-invasive imaging methods for offering insights into the biological systems, including computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and optical imaging. Among these modalities, MR is definitively the method of choice for providing superb soft tissue contrast, allowing for the investigation of subtle structural abnormalities. In addition, since MR is completely non-invasive, repeated measurements are readily available without worrying about radiation effects so that animals can be studied longitudinally. This is likely to substantially reduce the sample size while achieving a sufficient power. Although small animal imaging can be conducted independent of the field strength, the available signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is proportional to the field strength as well as the spatial resolution. For example, in order to obtain high-resolution small animal images with a sufficiently high SNR, the required data acquisition time is about 36 times longer at 1.5T when compared to that at 9.4T, practically impossible for in vivo small animal imaging. Therefore, in order to obtain high quality and high-resolution small animal images, a 9.4T system is requested in this application. Such a system is likely to have profound implications for a wide variety of research projects and greatly enhance the research capability of the investigators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The research projects listed in our application include cancer-related projects such as brain tumor and colorectal cancers, neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, cerebral vascular, and neurological diseases. All of these projects currently require sacrificing the animals and are unable to follow each animal longitudinally. Therefore, one of the immediate benefits of the 9.4T scanner is to offer insights into the biological system non-invasively, allowing longitudinal studies. In addition, through the utilization of MR spectroscopy as well as novel imaging methods, functional information is also readily available with the requested MR scanner. Therefore, there are not doubts that the requested 9.4T scanner will contribute substantially to the biological research at UNC-Chapel Hill. Finally, establishing a small animal imaging center is the highest priority at UNC-Chapel Hill. We have recently devised a CT and SPECT scanners for small animal imaging. The requested 9.4T MR scanner will definitively play a vital role and substantially strengthen our ability to establish a small animal-imaging center at UNC-Chapel Hill.