Fig 1.
Photographs of tail vein injection and retro-orbital injection.
Panel a shows tail vein injection and panel b shows retro-orbital injection in a mouse restrained to the plate holder. A needle-tube system was inserted through the tail vein, while a PE-10 tube was inserted through the medial canthus of the mouse.
Fig 2.
Typical thoracoabdominal coronal MRI.
Left column, from top to bottom, images acquired before (a), 30 s (b), 3 min 30 s (c), and 10 min (d) after delivery of the contrast agent via the retro-orbital route. Right column, images obtained before (e), 30 s (f), 3 min 30 s (g), and 10 min (h) after delivery of the contrast agent via the tail vein route.
Fig 3.
Partial maximum intensity projections of thoracoabdominal MR images.
Left column, from top to bottom, images obtained before (a), 30 s (b), 3 min 30 s (c), and 10 min (d) after delivering the contrast agent via the retro-orbital route. Right column, images obtained before (e), 30 s (f), 3 min 30 s (g), and 10 min (h) after delivering the contrast agent via the tail vein route.
Fig 4.
The time courses of contrast ratios after administration via the retro-orbital and tail vein routes.
Panel a, b, c and d shows liver, kidney, lung, and myocardium, respectively. Each point represents the mean value of the contrast ratios of nine mice. Time point 0 is before contrast injection and the other time points are from the start of each scan relative to the commencement of contrast agent injection. The error bars indicate standard errors.
Fig 5.
Correlation of contrast ratio between tail vein and retro-orbital route.
Panel a, b, c and d shows liver, kidney, lung, and myocardium, respectively.