1Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Baltimore, MD, United States; 2F.M. Kirby Research Center for
Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United
States; 3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China; 4Department of Radiology, Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
We performed in vivo high resolution HARDI of the mouse brain on an 11.7T system. By reducing the field of view using spatially selective RF pulses, we were able to focus on targeted brain structures. The technique allowed us to accomplish 3D high resolution HARDI (60 diffusion directions) in two hours in the mouse hippocampus at 0.1 mm isotropic resolution and the mouse cerebellum at 0.125 mm isotropic resolution. Using this localized HARDI approach, we were able to visualize complex tissue microstructure and local neuronal circuitry of the live mouse brain.