Acceleration of preclinical 1H-FID-MRSI in vivo acquisitions at 14.1T using Compressed Sensing

Motivation: Preclinical Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging offers valuable spatial information about metabolite content in the rodent brain, but is subjected to low signal-to-noise ratio and long acquisition time. Goal(s): Our goal was to accelerate preclinical 1H-MRSI by implementing and validating compressed sensing acceleration schemes to enable accurate acquisitions under 10 minutes. Approach: Free Induction Decay MRSI sets were acquired on the rodent brain using compressed sensing with different acceleration factors and k-space center acquired volumes. Results: Metabolic maps and regional differences were preserved with higher acceleration factors, going from 13 minutes to 6.5 minutes acquisition and lower. Impact: 1H-MRSI using compressed sensing, with its achieved 6.5 minutes acquisition, could be used for effective and reliable transversal metabolic studies of neurodegenerative diseases within preclinical models, such as the bile duct ligation rat model for hepatic encephalopathy.