Solenoid coil for mouse-model MRI with a clinical 3-Tesla imager: body imaging

Abstract

A solenoid coil was built for magnetic resonance imaging of the mice. A coil prototype composed of 5 turns, with a length of 4 cm and 2.5 cm radius was developed to acquire (whole) body mouse magnetic resonance images at 130 MHz and an insertable gradient coil set. Coil performance was measured using the \emph{Q} factor for both the loaded and unloaded cases were 161.67 and 178.03, respectively. These \emph{Q} factors compare very well with those values reported in the literature. The images were acquired with a clinical 3 T system equipped with a custom-built gradient insert coil and gradient echo image sequence. Both phantom and in vivo images showed good signal-to-noise ratio and uniformity. The electromagnetic interaction between the insertable coils and the solenoidal coil is poor, and no image artefacts are present in the whole-body image of the mouse. This preliminary experience has shown that consistent high quality MR images of the mice can be obtained using this particular hardware configuration, making it a promising method for acquisition of high-spatial resolution MR images of mice. Volume coils are still a good choice when combined with high field MR imagers and standard gradient echo sequences for the magnetic resonance imaging of the mouse.