Magnetic resonance imaging of oscillating electrical currents

TitleMagnetic resonance imaging of oscillating electrical currents
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsHalpern-Manners N.W, Bajaj V.S, Teisseyre T.Z, Pines A
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume107
Issue19
Pagination8519-8524
Date PublishedMay 11
ISBN Number0027-8424
Accession NumberWOS:000277591200008
Keywordsnerve
Abstract

Functional MRI has become an important tool of researchers and clinicians who seek to understand patterns of neuronal activation that accompany sensory and cognitive processes. However, the interpretation of fMRI images rests on assumptions about the relationship between neuronal firing and hemodynamic response that are not firmly grounded in rigorous theory or experimental evidence. Further, the blood-oxygen-level-dependent effect, which correlates an MRI observable to neuronal firing, evolves over a period that is 2 orders of magnitude longer than the underlying processes that are thought to cause it. Here, we instead demonstrate experiments to directly image oscillating currents by MRI. The approach rests on a resonant interaction between an applied rf field and an oscillating magnetic field in the sample and, as such, permits quantitative, frequency-selective measurements of current density without spatial or temporal cancellation. We apply this method in a current loop phantom, mapping its magnetic field and achieving a detection sensitivity near the threshold required for the detection of neuronal currents. Because the contrast mechanism is under spectroscopic control, we are able to demonstrate how ramped and phase-modulated spin-lock radiation can enhance the sensitivity and robustness of the experiment. We further demonstrate the combination of these methods with remote detection, a technique in which the encoding and detection of an MRI experiment are separated by sample flow or translation. We illustrate that remotely detected MRI permits the measurement of currents in small volumes of flowing water with high sensitivity and spatial resolution.

URL<Go to ISI>://WOS:000277591200008
DOI10.1073/Pnas.1003146107
Short TitleMagnetic resonance imaging of oscillating electrical currents
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