Abstract #0707

Localized in vivo High Resolution HARDI Reveals Complex Microstructure in the Mouse Brain

Dan Wu¹, Jiadi Xu², Xiaoying Cai³, Peter C.M. van Zijl²,⁴, Susumu Mori,²⁴, Jiangyang Zhang⁴

¹Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; ²F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States; ³Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; ⁴Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

We performed in vivo high resolution HARDI of the mouse brain on an 11.7T system. By reducing the field of view using spatially selective RF pulses, we were able to focus on targeted brain structures. The technique allowed us to accomplish 3D high resolution HARDI (60 diffusion directions) in two hours in the mouse hippocampus at 0.1 mm isotropic resolution and the mouse cerebellum at 0.125 mm isotropic resolution. Using this localized HARDI approach, we were able to visualize complex tissue microstructure and local neuronal circuitry of the live mouse brain.