Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance of Myocardial Structure, Function, and Perfusion in Mouse and Rat Models

This review summarizes small-animal cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) techniques that are being actively developed at present. Taking into account with few exceptions only literature of the past 2 years it shows that small-animal CMR has become an important and versatile analysis tool in many biomedical studies. The relatively complex signal formation and detection in magnetic resonance offers numerous ways of creating and modulating image contrast as a function of the specific needs. Although most new small-animal CMR developments are done within the scientific MR community, the MR manufacturers have readily contributed in making these techniques robust and available for routine application studies. Unlike other cardiovascular imaging techniques, CMR is used in many facets to assess morphology, global and regional function, blood flow, myocardial structure, cell damage, metabolism, and other molecular processes for studying mouse and rat models of human disease as well as general biochemical mechanisms in vivo.