Small Animal MRI and MRS

Description

The MRI/MRS Sub-Core of the SAIF is currently distributed across two laboratories located in the basement of the Founders building and in Room 96 of the John Morgan building.

The lab in the Founders building is managed by Stephen Pickup and consists of a 4.7 T horizontal bore magnet and a 9.4 T vertical bore magnet.

Both systems are controlled by identical Varian Inc. consoles. The 4.7 T system is equipped with two gradient sets with inner diameters of 30 and 12 cm and maximum gradient amplitudes of 4 and 25 gauss/cm, respectively.

The 9.4 T system is equipped with two gradient sets having inner diameters of 45 and 55 mm and maximum gradient amplitudes of 25 and 100 gauss/cm, respectively. The 9.4 T system is also equipped with liquids and solids probes suitable for generation of high-resolution spectra of cultured cells, tissue extracts or biopsy specimens and condensed solids (e.g., bone) in addition to its imaging capabilities.

A variety of RF surface and volume coils suitable for rat and mouse imaging are also available for both systems and new devices are always under construction.

This facility includes a conveniently located, well equipped surgery room used for preparing the animals for MR exams and a wide assortment of supporting equipment, i.e. anesthesia machines, MR compatible vital signs monitors (SA Instruments), infusion pumps (Harvard), heating pads, …etc. A variety of perishable supplies used in animal preparation are provided by the facility. [see supply list]

Instrumentation Access

Before gaining access to the instrumentation, users must complete an application from the downloadable files page and submit it to a member of the oversite committee. The application will be reviewed at the next users committee meeting and the PI will be notified of the outcome of that review. The committee meets on a monthly basis to review such applications. Approved protocols must also be renewed on an annual basis by completing the same forms.

The application should demonstrate that the proposed protocol adheres to MR safety and animal handling rules. Applications requesting ProDev funds (see below) must also demonstrate the potential for the proposed studies to lead to external funding. When an application is approved by the oversite committee, the protocol is given a name and accounts with that name are setup on the target consol and the scheduling application. The user can then begin reserving time on the schedule and performing the proposed study.

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MRI Specific Documents

MRI Facilities Description: This is a short blurb describing the MRI resources suitable for insertion into the resources section of a NIH grant application.

Generic MRI Protocol : This is description of a MRI imaging protocol that employs generic imaging techniques suitable for insertion into a scientific publication.

Do's

All users are expected to clean up after themselves! The lab should be at least as clean when you leave as it was when you arrived. Everything in the lab should be wiped clean and returned to it's proper storage location. All trash should be placed in the proper receptacle. All tape should be removed from facility equipment and disposed of. The taped surface should also be wiped clean of any residue from the tape.

All Drug Enforcement Agency controlled substances must be locked in the boxes provided when not in use.

Don'ts

No animal housing is provided in the MR lab. Animal and animal cages should not be left in the lab overnight.

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John Morgan Laboratory

This lab is managed by Krzysztof P. Wroblewski and consists of a 11.7 T and 7 T vertical bore systems controlled by Burker consoles.

The following probes are available for use on the 11.7 T system:

• 5 mm GRASP, 1H/BB inverse detection probe with 2H lock
• 5 mm GRASP 1H/13C/15N inverse detection probe
• 5 mm 15N/1H probe with 2H lock, 5mm 13C/1H probe with 2H lock
• 8mm 1H/13C/31P Diffusion probe with 2H lock
• 10 mm Broad Band Probe with 2H lock and 1H decoupling
• 10 mm 31P probe with 1H decoupling and 2H lock
• 10 mm 13C probe with 1H decoupling and 2H lock
• 10 mm 19F probe with 1H decoupling and 2H lock
• 20 mm home made triple tuned 31P/23Na/1H probe for small organ perfusion

The probes available for work on on the 7 T system are:

• 5 mm triple resonance inverse probe 1H/13C/15N with 2H lock
• 20 mm broad band probe with 2H lock and 1H decoupling
• 25 mm non spinning broad band probe with 1H decoupling
• 130 mm and 110 mm small animal probes with different surfaces coils for 1H 31P, 23Na, 19F 13C
• 72 mm mouse probe with different surface coils for observation of 1H, 23Na, 31P, 13C

The lab is also equipped with workstations for offline processing, HPLC and a variety of equipment for cell perfusion studies.

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MR Magnet Safety

Magnet Safety is an important concern for anyone working near MRI magnets. Please speak with Stephen Pickup regarding MR safety issues before working with any magnet in the facility.

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MRI and MRS Schedule

Schedule

Please go to http://cfn.upenn.edu/calendar/ for the calendar.

Scheduling Policy

The policy as described below was developed in order to accommodate as many research projects as possible. The facility will not police the schedule, however, users are encouraged to notify the facility staff if a user is in violation of the policy.

• When reserving magnet time, the title should include the telephone number of the primary user so that they may be contacted if a scheduling conflict should occur. Failure to adhere to this policy may result in removal of the scheduled block from the calendar.
• No user should sign up for more than 4 hours of prime time per day prior to 72 hours before the scheduled time unless special arrangements are made with the facility director (NOTE: The need to do multiple animals is not sufficient justification of scheduling large blocks of prime time).
• Users desiring a prime time slot should sign up for one of three slots; 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm and 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Shorter blocks of time may be scheduled but they should not span the 12:00 pm transition.
• ProDev users should not schedule any prime time earlier than 72 hours before to the desired slot.
  
• None of the above rules apply if a slot has not been reserved 72 hrs prior to the scheduled time.
• None of the above applies to non-prime time.
• Failure to adhere to the above policy is grounds for removal of the offending time slot from the schedule.

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MRI and MRS Rates

Protocol Development Accounts [ProDev]

The Department of Radiology has set aside limited amount of money to support the development of new protocols on the small animal MRI systems. Users may request such funds (referred to as protocol development or ProDev funds) by filling out the appropriate sections of the application form. User accounts that are supported with ProDev funds are given names with the pd' prefix making them readily identifiable to the rest of the community.

Billing/Accounting

Users are billed for the time that they are logged into the console at the following rates:

$110/hr - 9.4T MRI scanner in John Morgan Building

$70/hr -- Mon-Fri: 9:00am to 5:00pm

$20/hr - max $80/session -- Holidays, Sat, Sun, & Mon-Fri: 5:00pm to 9:00pm

The login times are automatically recorded by the operating system. Billing statements are generated on the first day of every month and are emailed to the PI of the study. No statement is generated for accounts that did not have any activity during a given billing cycle. PI's are strongly encouraged to contact the facility staff if they used the console during a given billing cycle and did not receive a billing statement.

The status of every account is checked on a daily basis. Accounts that are not up to date are automatically deactivated until the PI of the account takes action to resolve the problem. Any one of the following three conditions may cause an account to be deactivated:

This information is provided in the header of the monthly billing statements. PI's are encouraged to review this information on a regular basis in order to avoid unnecessary down time for their studies.

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