Retrospective cine 3He ventilation imaging under spontaneous breathing conditions: a non-invasive protocol for small-animal lung function imaging

A non-invasive and free-breathing hyperpolarized (HP) (3)He imaging protocol for small animals was implemented and validated on rats for lung function imaging. Animals were allowed to breathe a mixture of air and (3)He from a mask and a gas reservoir fitted to their heads. Radial imaging sequences were used, and MRI signal intensity changes were monitored for retrospective cine image reconstruction. The ventilation cycle of the animals was imaged with a 100 ms temporal resolution. The sliding window imaging technique was applied to reconstruct 5 ms time-shifted image series covering the complete breathing cycle. Image series were processed to extract quantitative ventilation parameters such as the gas arrival time. The reproducibility and the non-invasiveness of this ventilation imaging protocol were evaluated by multiple acquisitions on the same animals.