Magnetic resonance microimaging for noninvasive quantification of myocardial function and mass in the mouse.
Ruff J., Wiesmann F., Hiller KH., Voll S., von Kienlin M., Bauer WR., Rommel E., Neubauer S., Haase A.
The purpose of this work was to develop high-resolution cardiac magnetic resonance imaging techniques for the in vivo mouse model for quantification of myocardial function and mass. Eight male mice were investigated on a 7-Tesla MRI scanner. High-quality images in multiple short axis slices (in-plane resolution 117 microm2, slice thickness 1 mm) were acquired with an ECG-gated cine sequence. Left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and mass were calculated from segmented slice volumes. There was precise agreement of left ventricular mass determined ex vivo and by MRI. Intraobserver (5%) and interobserver (5%) variability of in vivo MR measurements were low.