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Signal‐to‐noise ratio of a mouse brain 13 C CryoProbe™ system in comparison with room temperature coils: spectroscopic phantom and in vivo results
Author(s) -
Sack M.,
Wetterling F.,
Sartorius A.,
Ende G.,
WeberFahr W.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
nmr in biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.278
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1099-1492
pISSN - 0952-3480
DOI - 10.1002/nbm.3110
Subject(s) - imaging phantom , nuclear magnetic resonance , materials science , signal (programming language) , signal to noise ratio (imaging) , noise (video) , electromagnetic coil , nuclear medicine , biomedical engineering , physics , computer science , optics , medicine , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics) , programming language , quantum mechanics
MRI and MRS in small rodents demand very high sensitivity. Cryogenic transmit/receive radiofrequency probes (CryoProbes) designed for 1 H MRI of mouse brain provide an attractive option for increasing the performance of small‐animal MR systems. As the Larmor frequency of 13 C nuclei is four times lower than that for 1 H nuclei, an even larger sensitivity improvement is expected for 13 C applications. The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of a prototype 13 C CryoProbe™ for mouse brain MRS. To investigate the possible gain of the 13 C CryoProbe™, we acquired localized single‐voxel 13 C spectra and chemical shift images of a dimethyl sulfoxide phantom with the CryoProbe™, as well as with two room temperature resonators. The cryogenically cooled resonator achieved approximately four‐fold higher signal‐to‐noise ratio in phantom tests when compared with the best‐performing room temperature coil. In addition, we present localized 13 C spectra of mouse brain obtained with the CryoProbe™, as well as with one of the room temperature coils, demonstrating the performance in vivo . In summary, the cryogenic cooling technique significantly enhances the 13 C signal sensitivity at 9.4 T and enables the investigation of metabolism within mouse brain. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.