Preparation of mouse prior to contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. A. The mouse was anaesthetised (blue arrow) and the tail vein cannulated (black arrow) to allow administration of contrast agent. Electrodes were placed on the thorax and abdomen to monitor respiration and heart rate (red arrow). B. The animal was the transferred into the MRI cradle and the head restrained with ear (*) and tooth bars to prevent movement during the scan. A rectal thermocouple was used to monitor body temperature (blue wire) which was maintained by an enclosed water circuit (yellow arrow) which surrounded the mouse. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)