Magnetic resonance microscopy in rat skeletal research

Noninvasive evaluation of skeletal tissue, particularly certain sites that tend to be predisposed to disease, is critical in understanding the pathogenesis, progression, and successful treatment of various diseases like osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis. Although several noninvasive techniques are currently available to evaluate skeletal tissues, they all have critical limitations. We report here a systematic study to compare the morphological changes (overall profile and tissue architecture) in the proximal tibiae and coccygeal vertebrae of a young growing rat and an older retired female breeder rat using 2- and 3-dimensional MR (magnetic resonance) microscopy and histology. We have obtained MR microimages of intact rat tibiae and vertebrae with resolution upto 24 24 250 microns and have found excellent correlations between MR microscopy results and histological assessment.