Dependence of White Matter Orientation to Magnet Field on Gradient-Echo Imaging at 17.2 Tesla in Mice.

Christopher John Wiggins¹, Denis Le Bihan¹, Luisa Ciobanu¹

It has previously been shown in both human and monkey models that the T2* signal of white matter tracts are dependent on their orientation with respect to the applied magnetic field. With the availability of a 17.2 Tesla 26cm bore MRI system, there exists the capability to examine this effect at yet higher fields, while using the higher sensitivity to provide sufficient resolution to use a mouse model. The work presented here confirms the sensitivity of mouse white matter tracts to their orientation relative to the applied field. When the tracts are oriented along the axis of the magnet, the T2* is relatively long compared to when the same tracts are oriented transverse to the applied field.