In vitro Testbed Platform for Evaluating Small Volume Contrast Agents via Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive imaging method with high resolution and unlimited penetration depth. Contrast agents (CAs) can assist in disease diagnosis and tissue screening via MRI. In vitro characterization of CAs in development is often carried out using sample sizes in the milliliter range or higher. Particularly when reagent costs are high, MRI would benefit from a standard platform for precise quantification of small volume CAs (microliter scale), ultimately enabling translation from in vitro to in vivo applications. In this initial study, we developed and evaluated a microliter-scale concentric “MiSCo” testbed as a platform to optimize MRI quantification of small volume samples in vitro. The platform facilitated accurate, repeatable, and reproducible MRI quantitative measurements with a 5-fold and 30-fold increase in precision and signal-to-noise-ratio, respectively, when compared to more traditional configurations. We believe this approach could serve as a path for future improvements in the field of quantitative MRI, ensuring high sensitivity measurements of small volume CAs.