Design and Development of an Animal Positioning System for Preclinical MRI with 3-D Printing

• Tarek Almardini
• Osayd Nazzal
• Muneeb Omar
• Tarek Safieh

Advisors: Anthony E. Felder, PhD, Miiri Kotche, PhD

Sponsor: Weiguo Li

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on small animals such as mice have allowed for a greater biological understanding without subjecting humans to extensive medical testing and analysis. However, MRI imaging requires a stabilized body for an extended period of time, otherwise, images are prone to motion artifacts. Thus, it is important to minimize the movement of the subject as much as possible. Motion artifacts, due to either voluntary or involuntary movement, can appear as blurring, darkening of the scan, or may even mimic serious medical conditions in some instances. Current cradle solutions with a “one size fits all” design approach are not be specific to one species and do not provide the desired image clarity. This can result in inadequate scans and positioning that is impossible to replicate through standard protocol and cannot be compared accurately across images. In addition, current options available on the market employ invasive methods such as tubes or bars placed in the mouse’s ears for head fixation. Therefore, we designed a mouse positioning system for preclinical MRI using 3D printing, a neonatal pressure cuff, and a customized bite bar to reduce involuntary motion during imaging. Performance criteria for our device included a twenty percent reduction in motion artifacts. Moreover, we demonstrate the testing procedure to perform such an experiment along with methods to analyze the results, a successful design will reduce motion artifacts by at least twenty percent.

See supporting documentation in the team’s Box drive.