The project is focused on development of a new research tool, namely novel electron paramagnetic resonance oxymetry imaging technique (oximetry EPRI) for quantification of Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal in vivo in the tumor of mouse.


MRI image weighted T₁ (left) and weighted T₂ (right) of FaDu tumor in mouse.
 
The project assumes development of fast 2D and 3D spectral-spatial EPRI (SS EPRI) methods that will decrease the scan time and accelerate the acquisition of images for the purpose of preclinical studies. Furthermore, the results obtained with new SS EPRI method will be compared with a classic one. The parametric image of oxygen partial pressure measured using stabilized EPRI technique will be used for direct comparison with oxygenation data measured with non-invasive BOLD-MRI contrast and other physiological parameters like e.g. perfusion obtained with available MRI sequences. The whole preclinical imaging process will be focused on subsequent observation of tumor growth and hypoxia formation from two cell lines, namely FaDu and HT-29. The hypoxia investigations will be supported by histopathological analysis of tumour sections using pimonidazole hydrochloride that is hypoxia marker and Hoechst 33342 which is a perfusion marker. Immunostaining will be confirmed by flurescence examination. This kind of preclinical cancer studies using a comparison of EPRI and BOLD-MRI have never been used in the past, but surely the results of this project can help to understand the BOLD effect in the tumour and provide more information about hypoxia creation process.