Non-invasive in-vivo magnetic resonance imaging of microvascular physiology

测量小血管的血流量、血管大小和其他生理特性提供了关于组织健康和异常变化性质的有价值的信息。现代医学成像技术，如磁共振成像（MRI）提供了一种非侵入性的方式来测量这些属性，但它们都需要注射造影剂。这一要求排除了重复测量的可能性，也不适用于幼儿和其他敏感受试者。在这项提案中，我们开发了一个真正的非侵入性MRI平台，以测量小血管的结构和功能，具有精细的空间细节-无需注射造影剂。这是一项新颖的变革性技术，将大大扩展与小血管相关的基础和应用研究的范围。

Measuring blood flow, vessel size, and other physiological properties of small blood vessels provides valuable information about the health of tissue and the nature of abnormal alterations. Modern medical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide a non-invasive way to measure these properties, but they all require the injection of contrast agents. This requirement precludes repeated measurements and is not accessible to very young children and other sensitive subjects. In this proposal, we develop a truly non-invasive MRI platform to measure small vessel structure and function with fine spatial detail - without injecting contrast. This is a novel and transformative technology that will greatly expand the scope of basic and applied research related to small blood vessels.