A New Halogenated Solvent For Ex Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a prominent non-invasive imaging technique. Structural MRI, the most common MRI modality, interacts with the hydrogen nuclei in samples, also called protons. When using structural MRI to scan ex vivo tissues, the biological samples are often placed in proton-free liquids containing no hydrogen atoms to obtain clean images that do not require background removal. Several proton-free liquids have been used during the last two decades, but they are all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and PFAS have recently been recognized as a significant environmental concern. To find replacement solutions, new families of proton-free liquids without fluorine atoms will need to be investigated for stability and safety and to check potential effects on subsequent tissue staining. The present work is a preliminary step in that direction. We validate the MRI properties of a broadly used, affordable, non-PFAS, proton-free solvent that has, as far as we know, never been considered for ex vivo MRI scanning.