Paixao Fabiano C, Quini Caio C, Baffa Oswaldo, Miranda Jose Ricardo de A
Faculdade de Física, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Av. Ipiranga, 6681 - Partenon, 90619-900, Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2010;2010:6457-60. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2010.5627341.
The alternate current biosusceptometry (ACB) is a biomagnetic technique used to study some physiological parameters associated with gastrointestinal (GI) tract. For this purpose it applies an AC magnetic field and measures the response originating from magnetic marks or tracers. This paper presents an equipment based on the ACB which uses anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors and an inexpensive electronic support. The ACB-AMR developed consists of a square array of 6×6 sensors arranged in a first-order gradiometer configuration with one reference sensor. The equipment was applied to capture magnetic images of different phantoms and to acquire gastric contraction activity of healthy rats. The results show a reasonable sensitivity and spatial-temporal resolution, so that it may be applied for imaging of phantoms and signal acquisition of the GI tract of small animals.
