Super-parallel MR microscope

A super-parallel MR microscope in which multiple (up to 100) samples can be imaged simultaneously at high spatial resolution is described. The system consists of a multichannel transmitter-receiver system and a gradient probe array housed in a large-bore magnet. An eight-channel MR microscope was constructed for verification of the system concept, and a four-channel MR microscope was constructed for a practical application. Eight chemically fixed mouse fetuses were simultaneously imaged at the 200 mum(3) voxel resolution in a 1.5 T superconducting magnet of a whole-body MRI, and four chemically fixed human embryos were simultaneously imaged at 120 mum(3) voxel resolution in a 2.35 T superconducting magnet. Although the spatial resolutions achieved were not strictly those of MR microscopy, the system design proposed here can be used to attain a much higher spatial resolution imaging of multiple samples, because higher magnetic field gradients can be generated at multiple positions in a homogeneous magnetic field. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.