Myelin as a Primary Source of Phase Contrast Demonstrated in Vivo in the Mouse Brain

Nicoleta Baxan¹, Laura-Adela Harsan¹, Iulius Dragonu¹, Annette Merkle¹, Juergen Hennig¹, Dominik von Elverfeldt¹

While most of MRI studies are focused on the magnitude data, the phase contrast has only recently proved its ability to improve the contrast to noise in high-resolution images at high-field strength. The origin of phase contrast between white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) has been widely discussed; several sources were suggested including paramagnetic blood deoxyhemoglobin, tissue iron concentrations, water-macromolecules exchange or tissue myelin content. In the present study we examine the contribution of tissue myelin content to the phase contrast by exploiting the frequency shift variation in a chronic model of cuprizone induced demyelination.