hi all
has any one used this MRI system before I am going to use it for the first time, for our mouse model to assess the muscle mass. The system can do the scans in living mice but we use dead mice carcasses will this make a big difference?
and after the scan I heard that I will need to merge? all slices and this will take a lot of time ?
any input in this matter will be appreciated.
thanks
It is a straight forward matter to determine muscle mass in mouse models using MRI. It may be necessary to adjust your scanner protocol in terms of timing to maximize the image contrast and resolution on dead mice for your scans. Take a look at the following paper "Magnetic resonance imaging of mouse skeletal muscle to measure denervation atrophy" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2532826/ - to see how the experiment is done and how the data needs to be treated to give you the best result. A synopsis of the technique - 1) scan muscles, 2) segment the muscle groups of interest, 3) compare values among segmented volumes for significance.
Your local preclinical imaging group should provide you with guidance on how this may be accomplished.
Good luck with your studies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2532826/
Thank you for your replay. Our initial thought was to quantify the whole volume of muscle mass in the mouse body.I have run couple trials on the MRI scanner and I think it is very hard to quantify all muscle volume in the mouse body.
DEXA scanner can give an estimate of the fat content of the body I am not sure how accurate is it for muscle.
The segmentation of Muscle mass in MRI images is a challenge in some types of MRI scans requiring substantial user input. One possible method to this would be to use two co-localized images, one a short TR and TE gradient echo and the second a longer TE fast spin echo image. The second image will have higher contrast in the FAT tissue and connective tissue. This image can be thresholded to use as a mask to segment FAT tissue in regions of the mouse body. Variation in RF intensity will cause the threshold values to change depending on the location in the mouse.
This way you can use one image to help you classify the other. This is a simple method to get started.
The DEXA numbers are based on changes in attenuation in the radiograph where FAT has less than muscle tissue due to the additional fraction of carbon and hydrogen than in muscle tissue. It is also a more coarse measure than the MRI. I think you may have better luck with MRI.
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