Product Principles

Preclinical MRI enables a multitude of facets of basic research, disease, and treatment studies to be illuminated. Non-invasive in vivo imaging of small animals and rodents provides structural and functional information with high spatial and temporal resolution. 

Brief Introduction

Leading scientists worldwide are taking their research closer to the molecular and cellular level thanks to BioSpec®. Designed for the emerging market of preclinical imaging and molecular MRI, its innovative modular concept enables virtually any small animal MR imaging application in life science, biomedical, and preclinical research. 

BioSpec^® already brings proven performance, safety, convenience, and future-proof cost-effective operation to over 600 labs worldwide. With our new multimodal animal platforms and accessories and our latest generation ParaVision® software more users than ever can access a new level of research quicker than they think.

Key Benefits

•  Cost effective - Helium zero boil off and Nitrogen-free for reduced maintenance costs and longer service intervals

•  Scalable – upgradeable electronics, options, and accessories to keep your system at the cutting edge

•  Compatible – multimodal animal handling solutions for use with all Bruker preclinical modalities

•  Intuitive – with Bruker’s gold standard preclinical imaging software, ParaVision^®, users can start scanning immediately

•  Proven – more than 30 methods with various contrast modules and hundreds of measurement protocols designed and tested on mice and rats to guarantee the highest image quality 

Key Technologies

•  Field strengths – 4.7 to 15.2 Tesla ultra-shielded supercon ducting magnets with reduced stray field

•  Bore sizes – 11 to 40 cm for optimal working space

•  Gradient diameters – 6, 9, 12, 20, 26 cm, with 6 and 12 cm gradients available as inserts (dual gradients)

•  Gradient strength – up to 1000 mT/m for highest duty cycles 

• Shim sets – Full 3^rd order (6 cm) and 2^nd order (9-26 cm) for best homogeneity

Product Characteristics

• Zero helium boil-off technology, nitrogen-free, Ultra Shielded and Refrigerated (USR) magnet technology for reduced maintenance costs and longer service intervals

• Accurate animal positioning with the motorized animal handling system for increased throughput

• Full second order and z3 high power shim channels guarantee optimal performance for spectroscopy and MRI
  

• Scalable AVANCE NEO electronics enabling both MRI and MRS applications and incorporating up to 16 receiver channels

• Real-time spectrometer control for optimization of acquisition parameters during scan

• High performance BGA-S-HP gradients with highest amplitudes and slew rates, shim strengths and duty cycles

• Fast and easily mountable gradient/shim inserts for optimum gradient/shim performance for small samples available

• Complete RF coil portfolio for mice and rats available, including coils for head, brain, cardiac, body, optogenetics, Arterial Spin Labeling, multi-channel array coils with up to 16 channels, and x-nuclei

• MRI CryoProbes with 2 element, 4 element, or as 13C for mice as well as 4 element for rat delivering an exceptional increase in sensitivity

• Intuitive ParaVision software for multi-dimensional MRI/MRS data acquisition, reconstruction, analysis and visualization including IntraGate based methods, UTE, and ZTE

• In-house development and production of all key components (software, magnet, gradient, spectrometer, RF-coils) ensures the best performance and short repair times

Application Fields

With the power to conduct limitless imaging applications, BioSpec^®opens up a whole new world of applications. Customers across the world undertake daily investigations into: 

• Angiography - flow contrast and flow analysis of the velocity of each voxel for glioblastoma and aneurysm studies

• Cardiology - investigation of cardiac strain, ejection fraction, and septum defects, using triggered sequences or Bruker’s patented IntraGate for navigator based retrospective gating

• Diffusion - visualization of disturbed pathology, such as in multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and stroke tumors

• fMRI - insight into the brain‘s function 

• Molecular MRI - imaging at the cellular level 

• Perfusion - with and without CA for tumor- detection, -neoangio genesis, and -vascularization, and disruption of the blood brain barrier 

• Spectroscopy – quantification of metabolic disorders and long term changes in metabolic processes

1、DTI Fibers

Brain connectivity studies in small animals are
challenging but can be achieved using state-ofthe-art MRI technologies for acquisition, such as the 7 T BioSpec^® with MRI CryoProbe. Highresolution DTI MRI and fiber tracking of the living mouse brain delineate the organization of the
fiber tracts.

Acquisition details: MRI CyroProbeTM at 7 Tesla,
DTI-EPI, diffusion directions: 30, resolution:
(12.5 × 15.5 × 50) µm³, scan time: 25 min.

2、Localized Spectroscopy

STEAM spectrum of the mouse brain acquired using the MRI CryoProbeTM at 15.2 Tesla. 

Acquisition details: STEAM, voxel size: (2 x 2 x 2) mm³, TR: 8 s, 128 averages, resolution enhancement with shifted Gauss filtering, TE: 1.1 ms, shift: 7%, broadening: 7 Hz

3、Cellular Imaging

Mesenchymal stem cells were labeled and used as markers for stroke regions. They are readily visible in T2- and T2*-weighted images both in vivo and ex vivo. Full 3D brain coverage enables quantification and volume rendering.