Goal

Magnetic resonance histology has become a valuable tool to assess the developing rodent embryo because it provides a non-destructive method to generate three-dimensional digital images for quantitative assessment of organ morphology. The majority of our studies have been performed on formalin-fixed tissues of C57BL6 mice. We developed staining and fixation methods to enhance the signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise through the use of paramagnetic contrast agents (gadolinium).

This staining method was used to develop an annotated MR atlas of the anatomy of the developing mouse from embryonic day E10.5 to E19.5, and post-natal day PND0 to PND32.

Future goals

• Make available the atlas on an online server as a dynamic database for viewing multimodal datasets and share resources and knowledge within the biomedical scientific community.
• Study transgenic mouse models with heart defects, like the Sonic Hedgehog and the Mef2c-Cre.
• Develop a multiple-coil imaging system for high-throughput studies of normal and abnormal development of the mouse.

Presentations

• Alexandra Petiet, Laurence Hedlund, G. Allan Johnson, Staining Methods for Magnetic Resonance Microscopy of the Murine Fetus. Poster at 14th Annual Scientific meeting of the ISMRM, Seattle, WA, 2006. (poster pdf)
• A Petiet, GA Johnson, Staining Methods for Magnetic Resonance Histology of the Rat Embryo, EENC/Ampere Conference, 2004, Lille, France. (poster pdf)

18.5 embryonic-day fetus at 3.5 hours (left) and 24 hours fixation (right).

Movie of rat embryos (E13.5-day to E18.5-day) Click REFRESH/RELOAD on your browser if the movie below does not play.
		Movie of an E17.5-day mouse fetus at 19.5-micron isotropic resolution. Click REFRESH/RELOAD on your browser if the movie below does not play.

	Mid-coronal slices of post-natal mice at (left to right) birth, day 4, day 8, and day 16.
Examples of labeled slices in a) coronal, b) sagittal and c) axial planes. (M. H. Kaufman, A. Petiet)
a)
b)
c)