Ace Therapeutics aims to help scientists investigate brain abnormalities associated with psychiatric disorders through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our MRI services are helping scientists around the world conduct research on psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, depression, autism, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

Introduction of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in Psychiatry

Mental illness is considered a serious health condition, but the use of MRI has now revolutionized our ability to diagnose and track mental illness in clinics and clinical trials. MRI has been used to study the neurological deficits seen in schizophrenia, affective disorders, dementia, and more recently, anxiety disorders. MRI has enhanced and changed our understanding of the pathological processes involved in the formation and progression of disease during psychiatric problems. Preclinical MRI can shed light on multiple aspects of basic and therapeutic research in psychiatric disorders.

Fig. 1 Brain activation differences in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy controls. (Sava S, et al., 2008)

Principle

MRI scans are operated by three components, namely a strong magnet, a radio wave frequency and an imaging machine. Since the human body consists of many hydrogen atoms with magnetic properties, when the body is placed in a magnetic field, these atoms are aligned with the north pole. The radio waves disrupt the polarity of the atoms and when the atoms return to their original alignment, the sensor senses it. Essentially, the MRI computer machine processes the water content of various tissues to produce images of mental illness.

MRI Services

Ace Therapeutics has small animal MRI systems for preclinical and molecular MRI studies, based on which we can provide our customers with preclinical imaging of small animals (such as rats, mice and shrews), fixed tissue and cell samples with high spatial and temporal resolution. With our 3D multi-modality imaging equipment, you can acquire both functional and structural imaging data from live animals in vivo.

What Can We Help You Achieve in Psychiatry with MRI?

• Study the changes of cerebral perfusion in mental diseases
• Detect the abnormality of cerebral microvascular system
• Study the anatomical structure and function of the brain
• Assessment of cortical activation by measuring changes in the local concentration of deoxyhemoglobin
• Study the relationship between brain and disease evolution, drug exposure, genetic vulnerability or hormone level
• Study of neuronal networks associated with brain function
• Map functional connections in the rodent brain

Our Advantages

• Ultra-high resolution magnetic resonance imaging: the ability to push resolution towards in vivo MRI histology and contribute to improved data quality in a range of disease models
• Higher throughput: Significantly shorter measurement times, with a two-fold increase in sensitivity to obtain images of the same resolution and similar quality in a quarter of the time
• Higher magnetic sensitivity: increased magnetic sensitivity at ultra-high fields translates into greater observable blood oxygen level-dependent signal changes, which can be used to study functional connectivity to further understand brain function in psychiatric disorders
• Higher spectral dispersion: facilitates increased chemical shifts and improved sensitivity in live samples

Ace Therapeutics is committed to advancing scientific understanding of the pathological processes involved in the formation and progression of disease during psychiatric problems through MRI. If you are interested in preclinical MRI services, please feel free to make an inquiry.

Reference

1. Sava S, Yurgelun-Todd DA. Functional magnetic resonance in psychiatry. Top Magn Reson Imaging. 2008, 19(2):71-79.