Magnetic resonance imaging of rat head with a high-strength (4.7 T) magnetic field.

This study was designed to seek the appropriate scanning parameters for T1 and T2 weighted images of rat head by use of a high (4.7 T) magnetic field strength magnetic resonance imaging unit. The optimum values of variables for T1 weighted images were considered to be a time of repetition of 1,000 msec, and for T2 weighted images, 8 echoes. When the sagittal images of a healthy rat head were scanned using these optimum values, the cerebrum, cerebellum, olfactory bulb, pituitary gland, pineal gland, spinal cord, tongue, nasopharynx, nasal conchae, vermis and cerebrospinal fluid were clearly observed in either T1 or T2 weighted images. Moreover, a primary brain tumor induced by ethylnitrosourea was depicted as a high signal intensity mass in T2 and contrast-enhanced T1 weighted images.