Development of advanced MRI techniques for cardiovascular research in rodent models

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The availability of transgenic rodent (mouse and rat) models of human diseases is revolutionising preclinical research. In particular, non-invasive imaging of rodents with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is enabling very powerful studies using the minimum possible number of animals. In this project we are concerned with common cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and arterial disease, which are major causes of death in the Western world. Of particular interest are the function of the heart, and blood flow in the major arteries. One problem with MRI is the length of time it can take to collect the images. For example, to collect movies of how the heart pumps and the blood flows, scanning can take more than an hour with standard techniques. We will develop advanced scanning and image processing techniques to reduce the time that individual animals are in the MRI scanner. In order to develop our imaging techniques without using live animals, we will first build a rodent heart simulator that mimics the pumping action of the heart. This project directly addresses the 3R’s of biomedical research (www.nc3rs.org.uk): REDUCTION of animal numbers and scanning time, REFINEMENT of experiments, and REPLACEMENT of animals with the heart simulator for development purposes.