Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) began in 1977 and uses magnetism, radio waves, and a computer to produce images either as individual slices or reconstructed to give three dimensional (3D) views of specific anatomical regions or structures.
See also the related page Prenatal Diagnosis - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
which discusses MRI as a tool to detect and study abnormal development.
This page currently has links to MRI movies of early Xenopus (frog) blastula development. (More? Frog Development) Other potential developmental research imaging techniques include: positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography, computed tomography, optical bioluminescence, fluorescence and high frequency ultrasound.
Special thanks to Dr Cyrus Papan for original Xenopus MRI video materials.
Page Links: Introduction | Some Recent Findings | Xenopus Blastula 1 | Xenopus Blastula 2 | Xenopus Blastula 4 | Prenatal Diagnosis | About MRI | MRI Links | References | Glossary |
Picone O, Simon I, Benachi A, Brunelle F, Sonigo P. Comparison between ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging in assessment of fetal cytomegalovirus infection. Prenat Diagn. 2008 Jun 13.
"MRI can provide important additional information with regard to abnormal gyration, cerebellar hypoplasia, or abnormal signal in white matter. It is certainly useful in the assessment of fetuses with extracerebral features without brain abnormalities detected with ultrasounds. If the fetal ultrasound is strictly normal in an infected fetus, MRI may not detect brain anomalies; however, it seems difficult to not perform this noninvasive procedure."
Bendersky M, Musolino PL, Rugilo C, Schuster G, Sica RE. Normal anatomy of the developing fetal brain. Ex vivo anatomical-magnetic resonance imaging correlation. J Neurol Sci. 2006 Dec 1;250(1-2):20-6.
"Fetal MRI proved to be as reliable as the macroscopic anatomical examination for depicting normal cortical developmental sequence and age, suggesting that this technique may be a suitable option for achieving precise information about the morphology of human brains along the gestational period."
Lee JH, Huh YM, Jun YW, Seo JW, Jang JT, Song HT, Kim S, Cho EJ, Yoon HG, Suh JS, Cheon J. Artificially engineered magnetic nanoparticles for ultra-sensitive molecular imaging. Nat Med. 2006 Dec 24;
C. Papan, B. Boulat, S. S. Velan, S. E. Fraser and R. E. Jacobs, 2D and 3D time-lapse microscopic MRI of Xenopus gastrulation movements utilizing intrinsic tissue-specific contrast Dev Dyn. 2007 (in press)
Papan C, Boulat B, Velan SS, Fraser SE, Jacobs RE. Time-lapse tracing of mitotic cell divisions in the early Xenopus embryo using microscopic MRI. Dev Dyn. 2006 Nov;235(11):3059-62.
"...the use of microscopic magnetic resonance imaging (mMRI) to noninvasively observe mitotic cell division of early blastomeres in the optically opaque Xenopus laevis embryo. ...Timing and orientation of the cleavages can be traced for five cell divisions to establish a cell lineage tree, including orientation and timing of the mitosis."
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Movie shows a semitransparent 3D volume rendering with 1 hour/frame and 39 um3 voxel size. Embryo is shown in a lateral view with the animal pole up and dorsal to the right. The color look-up table is shown on top and the length of the time bar is 300 um. The animal pole at the top is orange and the vegetal pole at the bottom is dark red/brown. The blastocoel appears bright orange/pink. At the end of the sequence the archenteron appears at the dorsal side. (click on image to open movie) Quicktime: Xenopus Blastula MRI Movie 1 (820 Kb) (More? Frog Development) |
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Movie shows a 2D fat time series in a sagittal view, which highlights the vegetal cell mass, also with 1 hour per frame and 39 um3 voxel size. The embryo is oriented with the animal pole up and the dorsal side to the right. The blastocoel is visible as a black sphere in the upper (animal) half of the embryo. The animal cap tissue surrounding the blastocoel appears dark-red, and the vegetal cell mass at the bottom appears yellow/orange. Here, the NMR signal of the protons from the tissue lipids were recorded, and hence images are termed "fat-images". Scale bar is 300 um. (click on image to open movie) Quicktime: Xenopus Blastula MRI Movie 2 (660 Kb) (More? Frog Development) |
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Movie is a 2D water image time series also in a sagittal view, with approximately 6:50 minutes per frame and 23 um2 in plane resolution. The embryo is oriented with the animal pole up and dorsal to the right. The blastocoel appears bright grey, the animal cap darker-gray and the vegetal pole black. After gastrula, the embryo tilts over and is then viewed transversally. The spinal cord and the somites are evident. Scale bar is 200 um. (click on image to open movie) Quicktime: Xenopus Blastula/Gastrula MRI Movie (1.1 Mb) (More? Frog Development) |
A strong magnetic field (up to 1.5 to 4 Tesla) is generated in the machine through which the body is passed (the centre of the "donut ring" seen in the above image). The earth's natural magnetic field is about 0.5 Gauss compared to 15,000 Gauss (1.5 Tesla) in the MRI.
MRI can be used in Human fetuses at 18 weeks gestational age or later and has been used mainly in brain and spinal diagnosis, and has also been used to investigate other abnormalities of pregnancy. (More? Prenatal Diagnosis MRI )
archenteron cavity formed by endoderm during gastrulation which will form the primitive gut.
blastocoel fluid-filled cavity within the blastula.
These links are to external sites with information about MRI and require internet connection.
Multi-Dimensional Human Embryo a three-dimensional image reference of the Human Embryo based on magnetic resonance imaging.
Multi-Dimensional Medical Imaging Studies at University College London
Reviews
Articles
Picone O, Simon I, Benachi A, Brunelle F, Sonigo P. Comparison between ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging in assessment of fetal cytomegalovirus infection. Prenat Diagn. 2008 Jun 13.
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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images and linked movies on this page represent normal development. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for prenatal diagnosis of abnormal development are listed on a separate page (More? Prenatal Diagnosis MRI )
Special thanks to Dr Cyrus Papan, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, 31 Biopolis Way, The Nanos 04-01, Singapore 138669, Singapore.
MRI can be used in Human fetuses at 18 weeks gestational age or later and has been used mainly in brain and spinal diagnosis, and has also been used to investigate other abnormalities of pregnancy. (More? Prenatal Diagnosis MRI )
UNSW Embryology has many movies to show some of the dynamic changes that occur during embryonic development.
There also an about movies page which has technical details and terms listed.
Both Mac and PC computers require the Quicktime plug-in to be present in your browser or on your computer.
Internet users note that some of these movies are large and will take some time to download depending on your connection speed.
DVD users can find Quicktime on the DVD or the latest version can be downloaded from here Quicktime
UNSW Embryology is for educational use only.
Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.
