Localized High-resolution MR Imaging of Rat Brain Architecture Using Micro-fabricated Receive-only RF Coil

This study introduced a localized approach for magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) of the rat brain. A single-loop radiofrequency (RF) receiver coil designed for micro-imaging was developed by using electromagnetic simulation software widely used in communication fields. With transmit-only and receive-only (TORO) configuration, receive-only surface coil can achieve higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at localized brain region. Corpus callosum and hippocampus were landmarks to evaluate the capacity of the proposed coil. On a 3T MRI system, high-resolution MRI of the dissected rat brain was acquired with spatial resolution of 117 x 117 x 500 mum³. The achieved high local SNR and spatial resolution will provide valuable information for resolving the architecture of the rat brain.