Magnetic resonance histology for morphologic phenotyping

Magnetic resonance histology (MRH) images of the whole mouse have been acquired at 100‐micron isotropic resolution at 2.0T with image arrays of 256 × 256 × 1024. Higher resolution (50 × 50 × 50 microns) of limited volumes has been acquired at 7.1T with image arrays of 512 × 512 × 512. Even higher resolution images (20 × 20 × 20 microns) of isolated organs have been acquired at 9.4T. The volume resolution represents an increase of 625,000× over conventional clinical MRI. The technological basis is summarized that will allow basic scientists to begin using MRH as a routine method for morphologcic phenotyping of the mouse. MRH promises four unique attributes over conventional histology: 1) MRH is non‐destructive; 2) MRH exploits the unique contrast mechanisms that have made MRI so successful clinically; 3) MRH is 3‐dimensional; and 4) the data are inherently digital. We demonstrate the utility in morphologic phenotyping a whole C57BL/6J mouse. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2002;16:423–429. Published 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.