In vivo fiber tracking of muscle anatomy in rodents (Oryctolagus cuniculus) on a clinical 3T MRI system

Introduction: The determination of three-dimensional inner muscle architecture is the prerequisite to understand muscle deformation during contraction or to develop realistic finite element (FE) muscle models. Several recent studies have demonstrated that diffusion-tensor MRI (DT-MRI) allows quantitative determination of muscle fiber orientation in vivo in humans [1,2] as well as in animals [3,4]. So far, published animal studies were solely performed using MR animal systems. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of performing diffusion tensor imaging and fiber tractography on a rabbit using a short scan protocol on a clinical 3T MR system without the need for a special gradient insert system or similar specialized equipment.