Multiturn Planar Inductor for the Improvement of Signal-to-Noise Ratio Response in Magnetic Resonance Microscopy

Abstract

In this study, we propose a novel, multiturn histology coil for microscopic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of histological tissue slices with substantially higher signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) outcomes compared with previously developed coils. We performed electromagnetic simulations of the proposed coils and acquired MR images from a gelatin phantom and a rat brain slice with the implemented coils. The performances of the coils were evaluated by comparing the measured and simulated radio-frequency transmission (B-1(+)) fields in a flip-angle map form, and with low flip-angle gradient echo images to calculate the SNR increase as a function of the number of turns (n) of the coils. This study was performed on a 3 T MR imaging system. The proposed coil with n = 7 achieved SNR greater than 3.5 times that of a single-turn coil while preserving the highly uniform B-1(+) field across the imaging region. The proposed method provides new possibilities for high-resolution MR imaging of microscopic tissue samples for biomedical applications.