Towards a microMRI atlas of mouse development

This study investigates the potential of microscopic Magnetic Resonance Ima ging to obtain information for 3D digital atlases of mouse development usin g fixed samples. Fixed samples allow direct comparison with already publish ed atlases and provide a testing ground for future in vivo efforts. 3D MR i mages of mouse embryos (dpc 6.5-16) illustrate that the necessary contrast and level of detail is available with this technique. Diffusion weighted im aging, diffusion tensor imaging, and multi-valued data sets are presented a s examples of uniquely MR methods of obtaining anatomical information. MRI is performed non-invasively on the intact sample, leaving open the possibil ity of other manipulations (e.g. classical histology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and in vitro growth for unfixed samples) after cond ucting the MRI experiment (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.