Feng Wang1,
2, Ke Li1, 2, Daniel F. Gochberg1,
2, Li Min Chen1, 2, John C. Gore1,
2
1Institute
of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 2Radiology
and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United
States
Quantitative Magnetization Transfer (qMT) imaging yields relaxation rates and pool size ratios of macromolecular and free water proton pools. However, qMT studies of spinal cord have been limited because of its small size ( ~0.5 cm diameter in squirrel monkeys), field inhomogeneity effects, and motion artifacts. Here we present a pulsed-MT protocol based on Ramanis model for in vivo studies of the spinal cord of squirrel monkeys at 9.4T. The values of qMT parameters for gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) are in agreement with those of human studies.