7 Tesla Multinuclear MRI

Besides conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where the magnetization of ¹H nuclei is measured, other atomic nuclei with spin I > 0 can be used for signal detection. These nuclei are called X-nuclei. In our department we are developing hardware as well as acquisition, reconstruction and post-processing methods to acquire in-vivo MR signals of sodium (²³Na), potassium (³⁹K), chloride (³⁵Cl), oxygen (¹⁷O), magnesium (²⁵Mg), phosphorus (³¹P) and carbon (¹³C). Investigations of these nuclei are of special interest in clinical research because of their crucial role in many cellular processes. For instance, ²³Na, ³⁹K, and ³⁵Cl concentrations strongly depend on the physiologic condition of a cell. And ¹⁷O MRI can be used to directly access the oxygen consumption non-invasively.