Akira Nabetani1, Masayuki Yamaguchi2,
Akira Hirayama1,2, Minoru Mitsuda2,3, Ryutaro Nakagami2,3,
Atsushi Nozaki1, Mamoru Niitsu3, Hirofumi Fujii2,4
1GE Healthcare Japan, Ltd., Hino,
Tokyo, Japan; 2Functional Imaging Division, National Cancer Center
Hospital East, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan; 3Graduate School of Human
Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan; 4Institute
for Bioinformatics Research and Development Japan Science and Technology
Agency, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
We
constructed and tested a new multiple-animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
device that uses a 3-Tesla (3-T) whole-body scanner. An array coil comprising
16 small circular coils was connected to 16 preamplifiers and receivers of
the scanner. This device can be used to perform simultaneous whole-body
scanning of 4 rats or 16 mice. This approach facilitates progress in
preclinical MRI and may be helpful in pharmaceutical drug-development studies
in which various doses of multiple compounds are assessed in a large number
of animals.
Keywords