Characterization and mapping of dipolar interactions within macromolecules in tissues using a combination of DQF, MT and UTE MRI.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Eliav U
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3419800 | biostudies-other | 2012 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Similar Datasets
Project description:Cortical bone shows as a signal void when using conventional clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Ultrashort echo time MRI (UTE-MRI) can acquire high signal from cortical bone, thus enabling quantitative assessments. Magnetization transfer (MT) imaging combined with UTE-MRI can indirectly assess protons in the organic matrix of bone. This study aimed to examine UTE-MT MRI techniques to estimate the mechanical properties of cortical bone. A total of 156 rectangular human cortical bone strips were harvested from the tibial and femoral midshafts of 43 donors (62 ± 22 years old, 62 specimens from females, 94 specimens from males). Bone specimens were scanned using UTE-MT sequences on a clinical 3 T MRI scanner and on a micro-computed tomography (μCT) scanner. A series of MT pulse saturation powers (400°, 600°, 800°) and frequency offsets (2, 5, 10, 20, 50 kHz) was used to measure the macromolecular fraction (MMF) utilizing a two-pool MT model. Failure mechanical properties of the bone specimens were measured using 4-point bending tests. MMF from MRI results showed significant strong correlations with cortical bone porosity (R = -0.72, P < 0.01) and bone mineral density (BMD) (R = +0.71, P < 0.01). MMF demonstrated significant moderate correlations with Young modulus, yield stress, and ultimate stress (R = 0.60-0.61, P < 0.01). These results suggest that the two-pool UTE-MT model focusing on the organic matrix of bone can potentially serve as a novel tool to detect the variations of bone mechanical properties and intracortical porosity.
| S-EPMC6700521 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to demonstrate feasibility of measuring extracellular pH in cartilage and meniscus using acidoCEST technique with a 3-dimensional ultrashort echo time readout (acidoCEST-UTE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Materials and methodsMagnetization transfer ratio asymmetry, radiofrequency (RF) power mismatch, and relative saturation transfer were evaluated in liquid phantoms for iopromide, iopamidol, and iohexol over a pH range of 6.2 to 7.8, at various agent concentrations, temperatures, and buffer concentrations. Tissue phantoms containing cartilage and meniscus were evaluated with the same considerations for iopamidol and iohexol. Phantoms were imaged with the acidoCEST-UTE MRI sequence at 3 T. Correlation coefficients and coefficients of variations were calculated. Paired Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to evaluate for statistically significant differences.ResultsThe RF power mismatch and relative saturation transfer analyses of liquid phantoms showed iopamidol and iohexol to be the most promising agents for this study. Both these agents appeared to be concentration independent and feasible for use with or without buffer and at physiologic temperature over a pH range of 6.2 to 7.8. Ultimately, RF power mismatch fitting of iohexol showed the strongest correlation coefficients between cartilage, meniscus, and fluid. In addition, ratiometric values for iohexol are similar among liquid as well as different tissue types.ConclusionsMeasuring extracellular pH in cartilage and meniscus using acidoCEST-UTE MRI is feasible.
| S-EPMC6675630 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeThe impact of gradient imperfections on UTE images and UTE image-derived bone water quantification was investigated at 3 T field strength.MethodsThe effects of simple gradient time delays and eddy currents on UTE images, as well as the effects of gradient error corrections, were studied with simulation and phantom experiments. The k-space trajectory was mapped with a 2D sequence with phase encoding on both spatial axes by measuring the phase of the signal in small time increments during ramp-up of the read gradient. In vivo 3D UTE images were reconstructed with and without gradient error compensation to determine the bias in bone water quantification. Finally, imaging was performed on 2 equally configured Siemens TIM Trio systems (Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany) to investigate the impact of such gradient imperfections on inter-scanner measurement bias.ResultsCompared to values derived from UTE images with full gradient error compensation, total bone water was found to deviate substantially with no (up to 17%) or partial (delay-only) compensation (up to 10.8%). Bound water, obtained with inversion recovery-prepared UTE, was somewhat less susceptible to gradient errors (up to 2.2% for both correction strategies). Inter-scanner comparison indicated a statistically significant bias between measurements from the 2 MR systems for both total and bound water, which either vanished or was substantially reduced following gradient error correction.ConclusionGradient imperfections impose spatially dependent artifacts on UTE images, which compromise not only bone water quantification accuracy but also inter-scanner measurement agreement if left uncompensated.
| S-EPMC7348668 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Patients recovered from COVID-19 may develop long-COVID symptoms in the lung. For this patient population (post-COVID patients), they may benefit from longitudinal, radiation-free lung MRI exams for monitoring lung lesion development and progression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of a spiral ultrashort echo time MRI sequence (Spiral-VIBE-UTE) in a cohort of post-COVID patients in comparison with CT and to compare image quality obtained using different spiral MRI acquisition protocols. Lung MRI was performed in 36 post-COVID patients with different acquisition protocols, including different spiral sampling reordering schemes (line in partition or partition in line) and different breath-hold positions (inspiration or expiration). Three experienced chest radiologists independently scored all the MR images for different pulmonary structures. Lung MR images from spiral acquisition protocol that received the highest image quality scores were also compared against corresponding CT images in 27 patients for evaluating diagnostic image quality and lesion identification. Spiral-VIBE-UTE MRI acquired with the line in partition reordering scheme in an inspiratory breath-holding position achieved the highest image quality scores (score range = 2.17-3.69) compared to others (score range = 1.7-3.29). Compared to corresponding chest CT images, three readers found that 81.5% (22 out of 27), 81.5% (22 out of 27) and 37% (10 out of 27) of the MR images were useful, respectively. Meanwhile, they all agreed that MRI could identify significant lesions in the lungs. The Spiral-VIBE-UTE sequence allows for fast imaging of the lung in a single breath hold. It could be a valuable tool for lung imaging without radiation and could provide great value for managing different lung diseases including assessment of post-COVID lesions.
| S-EPMC9731813 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE: Direct in vivo MRI of dental hard tissues by applying ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI techniques has recently been reported. The objective of the presented study is to clinically evaluate the applicability of UTE MRI for the identification of caries lesions. METHODS: 40 randomly selected patients (mean age 41 ± 15 years) were enrolled in this study. 39 patients underwent a conventional clinical assessment, dental bitewing X-ray and a dental MRI investigation comprising a conventional turbo-spin echo (TSE) and a dedicated UTE scan. One patient had to be excluded owing to claustrophobia. In four patients, the clinical treatment of the lesions was documented by intraoral pictures, and the resulting volume of the cavity after excavation was documented by dental imprints and compared with the MRI findings. RESULTS: In total, 161 lesions were identified. 157 (97%) were visible in the UTE images, 27 (17%) in the conventional TSE images and 137 (85%) in the X-ray images. In total, 14 teeth could not be analysed by MR owing to artefacts caused by dental fillings. All lesions appear significantly larger in the UTE images as compared with the X-ray and TSE images. In situ measurements confirm the accuracy of the lesion dimensions as observed in the UTE images. CONCLUSION: The presented data provide evidence that UTE MR imaging can be applied for the identification of caries lesions. Although the current data suggest an even higher sensitivity of UTE MRI, some limitations must be expected from dental fillings.
| S-EPMC3667523 | biostudies-other
Project description:Alterations in myelin integrity are involved in many neurological disorders and demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard method to diagnose and monitor MS patients, clinically available MRI protocols show limited specificity for myelin detection, notably in cerebral grey matter areas. Ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI has shown great promise for direct imaging of lipids and myelin sheaths, and thus holds potential to improve lesion detection. In this study, we used a sequence combining magnetization transfer (MT) with UTE ("UTE-MT", TE = 76 μs) and with short TE ("STE-MT", TE = 3000 μs) to evaluate spatial and temporal changes in brain myelin content in the cuprizone mouse model for MS on a clinical 7 T scanner. During demyelination, UTE-MT ratio (UTE-MTR) and STE-MT ratio (STE-MTR) values were significantly decreased in most white matter and grey matter regions. However, only UTE-MTR detected cortical changes. After remyelination in subcortical and cortical areas, UTE-MTR values remained lower than baseline values, indicating that UTE-MT, but not STE-MT, imaging detected long-lasting changes following a demyelinating event. Next, we evaluated the potential correlations between imaging values and underlying histopathological markers. The strongest correlation was observed between UTE-MTR and percent coverage of myelin basic protein (MBP) immunostaining (r2 = 0.71). A significant, although lower, correlation was observed between STE-MTR and MBP (r2 = 0.48), and no correlation was found between UTE-MTR or STE-MTR and gliosis immunostaining. Interestingly, correlations varied across brain substructures. Altogether, our results demonstrate that UTE-MTR values significantly correlate with myelin content as measured by histopathology, not only in white matter, but also in subcortical and cortical grey matter regions in the cuprizone mouse model for MS. Readily implemented on a clinical 7 T system, this approach thus holds great potential for detecting demyelinating/remyelinating events in both white and grey matter areas in humans. When applied to patients with neurological disorders, including MS patient populations, UTE-MT methods may improve the non-invasive longitudinal monitoring of brain lesions, not only during disease progression but also in response to next generation remyelinating therapies.
| S-EPMC6953605 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeHyperpolarized 129 Xe MRI characterizes regional lung ventilation in a variety of disease populations, with high sensitivity to airway obstruction in early disease. However, ventilation images are usually limited to a single breath-hold and most-often acquired using gradient-recalled echo sequences with thick slices (~10-15 mm), which increases partial-volume effects, limits ability to observe small defects, and suffers from imperfect slice selection. We demonstrate higher-resolution ventilation images, in shorter breath-holds, using FLORET (Fermat Looped ORthogonally Encoded Trajectories), a center-out 3D-spiral UTE sequence.MethodsIn vivo human adult (N = 4; 2 healthy, 2 with cystic fibrosis) 129 Xe images were acquired using 2D gradient-recalled echo, 3D radial, and FLORET. Each sequence was acquired at its highest possible resolution within a 16-second breath-hold with a minimum voxel dimension of 3 mm. Images were compared using 129 Xe ventilation defect percentage, SNR, similarity coefficients, and vasculature cross-sections.ResultsThe FLORET sequence obtained relative normalized SNR, 40% greater than 2D gradient-recalled echo (P = .012) and 26% greater than 3D radial (P = .067). Moreover, the FLORET images were acquired with 3-fold-higher nominal resolution in a 15% shorter breath-hold. Finally, vasculature was less prominent in FLORET, likely due to diminished susceptibility-induced dephasing at shorter TEs afforded by UTE sequences.ConclusionThe FLORET sequence yields higher SNR for a given resolution with a shorter breath-hold than traditional ventilation imaging techniques. This sequence more accurately measures ventilation abnormalities and enables reduced scan times in patients with poor compliance and severe lung disease.
| S-EPMC7083696 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Most vascular flowering plants have the ability to form mutualistic associations with soil fungi from the Glomeromycota. The resulting symbiosis is called an arbuscular mycorrhiza and they are widespread in terrestrial ecosystems throughout the world. Significant alteration occurs at physiological and molecular levels in both symbionts. To gain a better understanding of the AM symbiosis, we use a 16000 feature oligonucleotide based array to examine gene expression in an arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses, M. truncatula/Gigaspora gigantea. Keywords: Medicago truncatula, Mycorrhizal, Gigaspora gigantea, microarray profiling
2007-03-08 | GSE5471 | GEO
Project description:Most vascular flowering plants have the ability to form mutualistic associations with soil fungi from the Glomeromycota. The resulting symbiosis is called an arbuscular mycorrhiza and they are widespread in terrestrial ecosystems throughout the world. Significant alteration occurs at physiological and molecular levels in both symbionts. To gain a better understanding of the AM symbiosis, we use a 16000 feature oligonucleotide based array to examine gene expression in an arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses, M. truncatula/G. intraradices. Keywords: Medicago truncatula, Mycorrhizal, Glomus intraradices, microarray profiling
2007-03-08 | GSE5467 | GEO
Project description:Foldon (F) is a specific partial sequence from the C-terminal domain of T4 fibritin, which is found at the neck of the T4 bacteriophage. The amino acid sequence (27 residues) in single letter code is GYIPEAPRDGQAYVRKDGEWVLLSTFL. In neutral solution (pH 6.9) it forms a homo-trimer (F-F-F). Biotinylated foldon (bF) is composed of the exact same amino acid sequence but contains a biotin residue attached to the N-terminal amino acid residue via two PEG linker molecules. In solution with neutral pH it forms a homo-trimer (bF-bF-bF). Mixing of both homo-trimers in solution with neutral pH spontaneously produces hetero-trimers (F-F-bF and F-bF-bF).
2024-04-29 | PXD044721 | Pride