Quantitative MRI of organspecific vascular permeability and immune cell dynamics by combination with mass spectrometric imaging

Principal investigators: Cornelius Faber, Uwe Karst
Project number: CRC 1450 B02
Project term: 01/2021–12/2028

Graphical abstract
© CRC inSight

The aim of this project is to develop combined in vivo MRI and ex vivo mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) methods including both, laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry imaging (LA-ICP-MSI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) (1). MSI shall be used to develop fully quantitative MRI methods (2) as part of our comprehensive multiscale imaging strategy (2, 3, 4) to analyse immune responses in disease models and patients in vivo (5).

The overarching question is how quantitative MR parameters depend on elemental and molecular patterns in tissues, and how this dependence evolves during inflammatory responses (6).

A thin tissue section of a mouse brain with a tumour. Left: Image showing autofluorescence using light microscopy. Right: Distribution of an MRI contrast agent based on the metal gadolinium (concentration increased in the tumour region, green to red), acquired through mass spectrometry – this method provides quantitative information about the contrast agent distribution by detecting the mass of gadolinium. We compare the spatial and temporal distribution of the MRI contrast agent with that of a simultaneously applied and structurally similar PET radiotracer (analysed using autoradiography, not shown). Thereby, we aim to validate newly developed mathematical models for processing dynamic PET-MRI imaging data. (Collaboration of projects B02 and B06)
© Katharina Kronenberg/Uwe Karst's research group, samples provided by Florian Gierse/Philipp Backhaus's research team

Team

Principal investigators

Project members

Publications

The names of the principal investigators in our network have been bolded. Publications released prior to 2021, when funding for our network commenced, represent previous project-related work.