Abstract #3494

Development of MR Compatible Muscle Stimulation Device: Deformation and Velocity Imaging of Rat Muscle Contraction.

Shantanu Sinha¹, Raj Rajasekaran², Ali Moghadasi, Youngseop Chang², Usha Sinha³

¹Radiology, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States; ²Medicine, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States; ³Physics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States

The rat muscle has been shown to be ideal for modeling several MSK disease states under controlled conditions [1]. While structural imaging including diffusion tensor imaging has been performed to elucidate architectural changes in rat muscle model [2], dynamic functional imaging of the rat muscle is still a challenging unresolved problem because of electronic noise generated by stimulation circuitry. Using special noise reduction electronics as well as modulation, we successfully stimulated the rat hind leg and monitored both tissue deformation and velocity using spin tag and PC-VENC acquisitions.