9.4 Tesla Small Animal Magnetic Resonance Scanner

9.4特斯拉小动物磁共振扫描仪

• 批准号: 6803699
• 负责人: Weili Lin
• 金额: $ 200万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-04-15 至 2007-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6803699
• 关键词: biomedical equipment purchase; computed axial tomography; magnetic resonance imaging; positron emission tomography; single photon emission computed tomography

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.

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请的目的是为购买9.4T专用小动物磁共振成像（MRI）扫描仪寻求资金。最近，广泛的努力已经致力于开发非侵入性成像方法，以提供对生物系统的见解，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。在这些方式中，MR绝对是提供极好的软组织对比的首选方法，允许调查细微的结构异常。此外，由于核磁共振完全是非侵入性的，因此可以随时进行重复测量，而不必担心辐射效应，因此可以对动物进行纵向研究。这可能会大大减少样本量，同时获得足够的功率。虽然小动物成像可以独立于场强进行，但可用的信噪比（SNR）与场强和空间分辨率成正比。例如，为了获得足够高信噪比的高分辨率小动物图像，在1.5T下所需的数据采集时间是9.4T下的36倍左右，这对于活体小动物成像几乎是不可能的。因此，为了获得高质量、高分辨率的小动物图像，本应用需要9.4T的系统。这样一个系统可能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研究人员的研究能力。我们申请的研究项目包括脑肿瘤、大肠癌、神经退行性疾病、心脑血管疾病、神经系统疾病等癌症相关项目。所有这些项目目前都需要牺牲动物，并且无法纵向跟踪每只动物。因此，9.4T扫描仪的直接好处之一是提供对生物系统的非侵入性见解，允许纵向研究。此外，通过利用磁共振光谱以及新的成像方法，功能信息也很容易与要求的磁共振扫描仪。因此，毫无疑问，所要求的9.4T扫描仪将大大有助于北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的生物学研究。最后，建立一个小型动物成像中心是北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的首要任务。我们最近设计了用于小动物成像的CT和SPECT扫描仪。所要求的9.4T MR扫描仪无疑将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分校建立小型动物成像中心的能力。