Nicoleta Baxan1, Ulf Kahlert2,
Juergen Hennig1, Dominik von Elverfeldt1
1Dept. of Radiology,
Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 2Department
of Stereotactic Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg,
Germany
In this study, we present for the first time the ability of the microcoil-based phase contrast MRI to resolve cellular structure of human glioma neurospheres, at significantly improved resolutions (10 10 m2) with direct optical image correlation. Furthermore, after cell labeling with manganese chloride (MnCl2), the paramagnetic properties of manganese were exploited using phase imaging to further enhance the contrast of cell structure. The MnCl2 property to function as a T1 contrast agent, enabled to follow temporal changes of MnCl2 uptake, retention and release time within and from single cells and individual clusters.