John C. Nouls1, Manuel Fanarjian2,
Bastiaan Driehuys1,3
1Center for In Vivo Microscopy, Duke
University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; 2Biomedical
Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; 3Radiology,
Duke University Medical Center
We
present a constant-volume small-animal ventilator that offers precise control
of gas delivery, permits high-resolution hyperpolarized gas imaging, and
captures the exhaled mixture containing 3He or 129Xe for recycling. The
captured gas is compressed by a piston and stored in a cylinder to be sent
for re-purification. The same ventilator can ventilate different small
animals, simply by changing flow constrictors. The ventilator is inexpensive
to duplicate and only uses off-the shelf components. By recapturing exhaled
gas, it alleviates some of the costs associated with HP gas imaging.