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Abstract #1042

Contrast Enhancement in Preserved Zebra Finch Brains Utilizing Low Temperatures at High Magnetic Fields

Parastou Foroutan1,2, Susanne L. T. Cappendijk3, Samuel C. Grant1,2

1Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States; 2CIMAR, The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, FL, United States; 3Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States


Temperature is evaluated as an easy method of increasing contrast in preserved tissue. In this study, excised, fixed brains from the adult male zebra finch were scanned at multiple temperatures between 5-25 Celsius. Relaxation (T1, T2 and T2*), signal-to-noise, relative contrast and contrast-to-noise were measured at each temperature. In addition, high-resolution 3D gradient recalled echo scans were acquired at 40-micron isotropic resolution at each temperature. Although all relaxation mechanisms displayed decreases with temperature, only T2* contrast displayed structural enhancement. The ramifications of these findings are discussed with respect to microimaging studies of preserved tissue samples.

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