Neuro MRE (I): High resolution mechanical imaging of elasticity, viscosity and pressure in the human brain

脑实质粘弹性和颅内压是影响脑血流量和通过水扩散的离子转运的重要力学参数，因此可以影响神经元和神经胶质细胞的结构和功能完整性。目前使用的基于成像的神经系统疾病的标记物，如多发性硬化症（MS）中常规T2加权脑磁共振成像（MRI）上的病变负荷，在可视化脑组织复杂的结构-功能关系和量化非显性脑损伤方面的能力有限。拟议的项目旨在研究磁共振弹性成像（MRE）和定量MRI，用于在像素尺度上绘制脑组织的局部生物物理特性，同时考虑到水合作用，血流和活动对粘弹性参数的影响。随着专注于神经炎症，我们将开发的方法来调查脑结构和MS和视神经肌萎缩症谱系障碍（NMOSD）患者的临床残疾之间的功能改变的关系。这些方法包括：脑和脊髓的实时MRE、全脑和脊髓的高分辨率3D多频MRE以及互补的定量MRI协议，包括水扩散和灌注敏感序列，用于深入分析体内脑和脊髓的生物物理特性。与小鼠模型中Neuro-MRE II的临床前研究同步，我们将通过检测受神经炎症过程影响的大脑中细胞网络的变化来桥接生物物理参数的微观和宏观世界。该项目的总体目标是开发人脑的多参数定量MRI，以确定生物物理组织参数，包括粘弹性，血液灌注和水扩散，以更好地理解和精确诊断神经炎性疾病。

Brain parenchymal viscoelasticity and intracranial pressure are important mechanical parameters influencing cerebral blood flow and ion transport through water diffusion and can thus affect the structural and functional integrity of neurons and glial cells. Currently used imaging-based markers of neurologic disorders such as lesion load on conventional T2-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in multiple sclerosis (MS) have limited ability in visualizing the intricate structural-functional relationship of brain tissue and quantifying nonovert brain damage. The proposed projects aim at investigating magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and quantitative MRI for mapping local biophysical properties of brain tissue on a pixel scale taking effects of hydration, blood flow, and activity on viscoelasticity parameters into account. With a dedicated focus on neuroinflammation we will develop methods to investigate the altered functional relationship between brain structure and clinical disability in patients with MS and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). These methods include: real-time MRE of brain and spinal cord, high-resolution 3D multifrequency MRE of full brain and spinal cord as well as complementary quantitative MRI protocols including water diffusion and perfusion-sensitive sequences for in-depth analysis of biophysical properties of the in vivo brain and spinal cord. In synchrony with preclinical research of Neuro-MRE II in mouse models we will bridge the micro- and macro-worlds of biophysical parameters by detecting changes involving cellular networks in the brain affected by neuroinflammatory processes. The overarching aim of this project is to develop multiparametric, quantitative MRI of the human brain to determine biophysical tissue parameters including viscoelasticity, blood perfusion, and water diffusion to better understand and precisely diagnose neuroinflammatory diseases by MRI.