Department of Developmental Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rangos Research Center Animal Imaging Core, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Birth Defects Res. 2017 Jun 1;109(10):758-770. doi: 10.1002/bdr2.1051. Epub 2017 May 22.
Small animal models, particularly mouse models, of human diseases are becoming an indispensable tool for biomedical research. Studies in animal models have provided important insights into the etiology of diseases and accelerated the development of therapeutic strategies. Detailed phenotypic characterization is essential, both for the development of such animal models and mechanistic studies into disease pathogenesis and testing the efficacy of experimental therapeutics. MRI is a versatile and noninvasive imaging modality with excellent penetration depth, tissue coverage, and soft tissue contrast. MRI, being a multi-modal imaging modality, together with proven imaging protocols and availability of good contrast agents, is ideally suited for phenotyping mutant mouse models. Here we describe the applications of MRI for phenotyping structural birth defects involving the brain, heart, and kidney in mice. The versatility of MRI and its ease of use are well suited to meet the rapidly increasing demands for mouse phenotyping in the coming age of functional genomics. Birth Defects Research 109:758-770, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
小动物模型，特别是人类疾病的小鼠模型，已成为生物医学研究不可或缺的工具。动物模型研究为疾病的病因提供了重要的见解，并加速了治疗策略的发展。详细的表型特征对于此类动物模型的开发以及疾病发病机制的机制研究和实验治疗的疗效测试都是至关重要的。MRI 是一种多功能且非侵入性的成像方式，具有出色的穿透深度、组织覆盖范围和软组织对比度。作为一种多模态成像方式，MRI 结合经过验证的成像方案和良好的对比剂可用性，非常适合表型分析突变小鼠模型。在这里，我们描述了 MRI 在表型分析涉及大脑、心脏和肾脏的结构出生缺陷中的应用。MRI 的多功能性及其易用性非常适合满足在功能基因组学的新时代对小鼠表型分析日益增长的需求。出生缺陷研究 109：758-770，2017。©2017 Wiley Periodicals，Inc.
