research facilities
facilities
NMR facilities
The Magnetic Resonance Imaging Laboratory is equipped with a 4.7 tesla super wide bore vertical
magnet, a Bruker AvanceII 200 console, a mini-imaging accessory with magnetic field gradients up
to 14 gauss/cm and a series of RF coils suited for rats and mice.
This system is completed by an isoflurane vaporizer for anesthesia and ECG, breathing and body
temperature probes to monitor animals during acquisition.
Since its establishment (1999), the laboratory has been devoted to the study of central nervous
system pathologies, with a special attention paid to stroke but also to epilepsy and other
neurodegenerative diseases.
In particular, two animal models of stroke have been extensively studied:
middle cerebral artery occlusion and spontaneous hypertensive stroke prone rats.
These models were mainly investigated with diffusion tensor imaging for cytotoxic edema,
T2 imaging for vasogenic edema and T1 imaging after gadolinium administration to asses blood
brain barrier integrity.
Other emerging applications of the laboratory are cellular imaging, both with iron loaded stem
cells or by using the phagocytic activity of macrophages and molecular imaging with gene expressed
endogenous contrast agents.
Since the console was upgraded to AvanceII new techniques are available:
Angiography, Localized Spectroscopy, Perfusion Imaging and Cardiac Cine Imaging.