Quantitative sodium MRI of the mouse prostate

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Mouse Models

Background:

• Quantitative sodium MRI is crucial for assessing tissue physiology.
• Prostate imaging requires high resolution and sensitivity to sodium concentration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a quantitative sodium MRI method for the mouse prostate at 9.4 Tesla.
• To measure the in vivo sodium concentration in healthy mouse prostates.

Main Methods:

• A dual-tuned loop-gap radiofrequency coil was used for proton and sodium imaging.
• High-resolution (1mm isotropic) sodium images were acquired with optimized parameters for density weighting.
• Sodium concentration was quantified using reference vials and corrected for radiofrequency field inhomogeneity.

Main Results:

• The average sodium concentration in healthy BALB/c mouse prostates was determined to be 173 ± 38 mM.
• Sodium concentrations in surrounding muscle (40 ± 15 mM) and bladder (210 ± 72 mM) were also measured.
• The method demonstrated clear visualization of prostate anatomy and surrounding tissues.

Conclusions:

• Quantitative sodium MRI at 9.4 T is feasible for mouse prostate imaging.
• This technique provides accurate sodium concentration measurements in vivo.
• The developed method can be applied to study prostate physiology and disease in mouse models.