A new collaborative ultra-high field MRI facility for dementia and neuroscience research

用于痴呆症和神经科学研究的新型协作超高场 MRI 设施

• 批准号: MR/M008983/1
• 负责人: James Rowe
• 金额: $ 885.57万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FM008983%2F1
• 关键词: new; collaborative; ultra; field; MRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has revolutionised the study of the brain and brain diseases like dementia over the last 20 years. Conventional MRI scanners have their limitations however. We will therefore build an "ultrahigh-field" MRI, which offers a major step forward in how clearly one can study the brain's structure, function and chemistry. This new scanner will be dedicated to the challenge of dementia, supported by scientific work to understand the normal brain and advanced analysis. It will be a major contributor to the UK Dementia Platform, a unique and radical approach to join up medical research across the country's specialist centres and drug company partners in the fight against dementia. The new "7T" scanner will be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, next to Addenbrookes Hospital. It is a collaboration between Cambridge University and the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBSU), working closely with the NHS. We will use the new scanner to detect and characterise over time the major brain diseases like Alzheimer's, Stroke and Parkinson's Disease. With our ageing population, the number of people suffering from dementia is likely to increase from the current level of 800,000. The need is urgent to identify people in the earliest stages of such diseases, or even before symptoms, in order to test treatments that combat dementia. Cambridge is ideally suited for this research, because of i) its existing expertise in dementia and MRI brain scanning, ii) its key role in national initiatives to understand dementia and the healthy ageing process, iii) its collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies to develop new treatments, and iv) the existence of large cohort studies that track normal ageing over decades, and groups of research volunteers who, because of genetics or lifestyle, are at-risk of dementia. MRI is a very versatile technology. MRI scanners can be "tuned" to measure the grey matter (home to most of the brain cells), white matter (the wiring of the brain), the major chemicals in the brain and microscopic effects of dementia. MRI can also measure brain function, allowing researchers to map the brain areas needed for attention, memory or language. The new scanner gives much greater detail across the entire brain, allowing researchers to understand how the brain works as a whole while still seeing detail at a sub-millimetre scale. This detail is important for diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, for which small and deep parts of the brainstem are critical but difficult to see with conventional MRI. Moreover, the increased detail offered by ultrahigh field MRI opens the window on an important level of organisation in the brain: the thin layers of the surface of the brain, which have until recently only been studied with invasive recordings. With the new scanner, we can safely study this fundamental level of brain organisation in humans. This will accelerate our scientific understanding of the basic workings of the brain. This draws on the very large community of brain researchers in Cambridge, to investigate, for example, the i) brain changes that put some people at risk of addiction, ii) brain networks linked to obesity, iii) how the brain normally ages, and why some people are resilient as they get older, and iv) how the brain matures through teenage years, when major mental illness like schizophrenia normally begin. Other medical researchers will use the scanner to understand i) recovery of the brain after head injury, ii) the brain systems implicated in pain, and iii) stroke and other disorders associated with impairments in the brain's blood supply. The depth and breadth of brain research is why the University of Cambridge and partners are planning to join together with the Medical Research Council to invest in this breakthrough technology. The ultrahigh-field MRI will advance both basic and medical research, to improve the health of the nation.

在过去的20年里，磁共振成像（MRI）已经彻底改变了对大脑和痴呆症等脑部疾病的研究。然而，传统的核磁共振扫描仪有其局限性。因此，我们将建立一个“超高场”核磁共振成像，这将使人们在如何清晰地研究大脑的结构、功能和化学方面迈出重要的一步。这台新的扫描仪将致力于应对痴呆症的挑战，并得到了解正常大脑和高级分析的科学工作的支持。它将成为英国痴呆症平台的主要贡献者，这是一种独特而激进的方法，可以将全国各地的专家中心和制药公司合作伙伴联合起来，共同对抗痴呆症。新的“7T”扫描仪将建在剑桥生物医学园区，毗邻阿登布鲁克斯医院。这是剑桥大学和医学研究委员会的认知和脑科学部门（CBSU）之间的合作，与NHS密切合作。随着时间的推移，我们将使用新的扫描仪来检测和描述主要的脑部疾病，如阿尔茨海默氏症、中风和帕金森病。随着人口老龄化，患痴呆症的人数可能会从目前的80万增加。目前迫切需要确定这些疾病的早期阶段，甚至是在症状出现之前，以便测试对抗痴呆症的治疗方法。剑桥大学非常适合这项研究，因为i)它在痴呆症和MRI脑部扫描方面的现有专业知识，ii)它在了解痴呆症和健康衰老过程的国家倡议中发挥了关键作用，iii)它与主要制药公司合作开发新的治疗方法，iv)存在大型队列研究，跟踪数十年的正常衰老，以及由于遗传或生活方式而有痴呆症风险的研究志愿者群体。核磁共振成像是一项非常通用的技术。核磁共振扫描仪可以“调谐”来测量灰质（大多数脑细胞的所在地）、白质（大脑的线路）、大脑中的主要化学物质和痴呆症的微观影响。核磁共振成像还可以测量大脑功能，使研究人员能够绘制出注意力、记忆或语言所需的大脑区域。新的扫描仪可以提供整个大脑的更多细节，使研究人员能够了解整个大脑是如何工作的，同时仍然可以看到亚毫米尺度的细节。这一细节对阿尔茨海默氏症和帕金森症等疾病很重要，因为脑干的小而深的部分是至关重要的，但用传统的MRI很难看到。此外，超高场核磁共振成像提供的更多细节为大脑组织的一个重要层面打开了一扇窗：大脑表面的薄层，直到最近才通过侵入性记录进行研究。有了新的扫描仪，我们可以安全地研究人类大脑组织的这个基本层面。这将加速我们对大脑基本运作的科学理解。这项研究利用了剑桥大学大量的大脑研究人员来调查，例如，i)使一些人有成瘾风险的大脑变化，ii)与肥胖有关的大脑网络，iii)大脑通常是如何衰老的，以及为什么有些人随着年龄的增长而变得有弹性，iv)大脑是如何在青少年时期成熟的，而青少年时期通常是精神分裂症等主要精神疾病开始的时候。其他医学研究人员将使用扫描仪来了解i)头部受伤后大脑的恢复，ii)与疼痛有关的大脑系统，以及iii)中风和其他与大脑血液供应受损相关的疾病。大脑研究的深度和广度是剑桥大学及其合作伙伴计划与医学研究委员会联合投资这项突破性技术的原因。超高场核磁共振将促进基础和医学研究，以提高国民的健康水平。

项目成果

Cortical glutamate and GABA are related to compulsive behaviour in individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder and healthy controls.

皮质谷氨酸和 GABA 与强迫症患者和健康对照者的强迫行为有关。

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.96609
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Biria M

Multi-Site Harmonization of 7 Tesla MRI Neuroimaging Protocols

7 个 Tesla MRI 神经成像协议的多站点协调

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.45797
• 发表时间: 2020
• 作者: Clarke W

2½-minute 3D 7T 31 P-MRSI of the human heart using concentric rings (CRT)

使用同心环 (CRT) 对人体心脏进行 2 分钟 3D 7T 31 P-MRSI

• DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.10.472120
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Clarke W

GABAergic cortical network physiology in frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

GABA能皮质网络生理学的额颞叶变性。

• DOI: 10.1093/brain/awab097
• 发表时间: 2021-08-17
• 期刊: Brain : a journal of neurology
• 作者: Adams NE;Hughes LE;Rouse MA;Phillips HN;Shaw AD;Murley AG;Cope TE;Bevan-Jones WR;Passamonti L;Street D;Holland N;Nesbitt D;Friston K;Rowe JB
• 通讯作者: Rowe JB

GABA-ergic dynamics in human frontotemporal networks confirmed by pharmaco-magnetoencephalography

药物脑磁图证实人类额颞叶网络中的 GABA 能动力学

• DOI: 10.1101/803924
• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Adams N