New Signal-to-Noise Horizons in Micro-Imaging

Micro-Imaging CryoProbe™ Technology

Zebra fish, acquired with spin echo technique at 9.4 T at a spatial resolution of 23 x 23 x 125 μm3, total scan time 31 min.

Bruker BioSpin extends its NMR cryogenically-cooled probe technology to MRI microscopy, leading to new and exciting opportunities in the microimaging field. Micro-imaging techniques for small sample sizes up to 5 mm benefit from new MRI CryoProbe products in form of improved image quality, increased spatial resolution and/or reduced scan times due to the improvements in signal-to-noise up to a factor of 4. The probes feature a temperature range from 0 to 80 ºC and are used with a Bruker BioSpin Micro 2.5 gradient system in vertical NMR magnets between 400 and 600 MHz with bore sizes of 89 mm and above. Next to 1H micro-imaging CryoProbes now also a dual 1H/13C CryoProbe is available.
 

Detection of sugar transport: An Angiocanthos plant was fed with 13C labelled glucose. The C1-13C bound protons (coloured) are overlayed to a proton image
Detection of sugar transport. Courtesy of M. Wenzler, Max Planck Institut für chemische Ökologie, Jena, Germany

Key micro-imaging applications:

  • Investigations on plants, insects and other small animals, embryos, and histological tissue samples
     
  • Studies of fast dynamic processes, micro-voxel spectroscopy
     
  • Studies of porous and inhomogeneous objects with highest sensitivity
    at intermediate field strengths, allowing to maintain minimum
    susceptibility distortions
     
     

Diffusion Imaging

Excised spinal cord from a rat. Multi direction diffusion anisotropy experiment along three main axes (b=1088 s/mm2) at a spatial resolution of 23 x 23 μm2, slice thickness 250 μm, total scan time 22 min.
Sample provided by C. Faber, T. Weber, Univ. of Würzburg, Germany
 

Excised spinal cord from a rat. Multi direction diffusion anisotropy experiment along three main axes (b=1088 s/mm2) at a spatial resolution of 23 x 23 μm2, slice thickness 250 μm, total scan time 2