Imaging Human Brain Function with Minimal Mobility Restrictions: SUPPLEMENT: Administrative Supplement for Research on Bioethical Issues

磁共振成像(MRI)，通过提供对人脑进行成像的唯一手段 具有高空间分辨率的结构和活性，已演变为 研究健康和疾病中的大脑功能。它特别适合于检查神经基础。 更高级的行为和认知，以及神经退化和发育 疾病，动物模型对这些疾病的适用性有限。然而，由于目前的情况 实验限制，有广泛的受试者和人类行为是 完全无法通过核磁共振技术获得。核磁共振目前依赖于大型、昂贵和 修复了扫描仪中的对象必须长时间保持不动的问题 有限的水平空间。因此，任何涉及运动的行为，尤其是涉及 无法研究与自然环境中物体的垂直实时交互。是这样的 研究具有巨大的科学意义，例如，在理解神经基础方面。 运动规划，但也具有相当大的实践和临床重要性，以便最终 了解并解决与损伤、中风或疾病相关的运动障碍 排除与进食和伸手一样重要的日常行为。在……方面特别重要 这方面是指大量活动或前庭功能受限的人或 保持姿势或平稳动作的困难，对其保持的要求 水平空间中的静止排除了磁共振成像。因此，迫切需要一种脑部成像 这项技术比目前的核磁共振扫描仪更便携，限制更少。一种方法 解决这些问题的方法是减小MRI磁体的大小，使其成为仅限头部的系统 这并不局限于身体，但这种方法导致静电场(B0)显著降低 同质性，在目前的技术中，这排除了高分辨率成像。现在，有了 来自Brain Initiative Grant R24 MH105998的支持，我们已经通过以下方式解决了问题 开发新的硬件以及新的获取和重建方法，能够 即使B0极不均匀，也能生成高质量的脑部图像。这款U01的目标是 项目是在这些努力的基础上通过设计、建造和验证有史以来第一个人类 核磁共振扫描仪，只需要磁头在磁体孔内，并有一个大窗口 用于在磁铁孔外观察。这款1.5的体积小、重量轻、功率要求高 特斯拉核磁共振系统将使其能够运输和放置在世界上几乎任何地方 将能够将磁铁带到对象上，而不是反过来。为了实现这一目标， 已经组建了一支由来自多个学科和机构的领先专家组成的团队。这个 这一革命性的MRI系统的硬件和软件组件将被构建并 该系统在项目的头两年进行调试，将在三年内组装和测试- 4，最后在第5年，核磁共振系统将在第一次此类运动研究中试行 在自然触觉行为中的协调和规划。

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), by offering the sole means of imaging human brain structure and activity with high spatial resolution, has evolved into an indispensable tool for studying brain function in health and disease. It is uniquely suited to examining the neural basis of higher order behaviors and cognition, as well as neurodegenerative and developmental disorders, for which animal models are of limited applicability. Yet, because of current experimental limitations, there is wide range of subjects and human behaviors that are completely inaccessible by MRI techniques. MRI currently depends on large, expensive, and fixed scanners in which subjects must remain motionless for long periods of time within a confined horizontal space. Thus any behavior involving motion, and especially those involving the upright real-time interaction with objects in natural environments, cannot be studied. Such studies are of enormous scientific interest, for example, in understanding the neuronal basis of motor planning, but also of considerable practical and clinical importance in order to eventually understand and address the motor deficits associated with injury, stroke, or disease which preclude everyday behaviors as important as feeding and reaching. Of particular relevance in this regard is the large population of people with limited ambulatory or vestibular function or difficulty in maintaining posture or smooth movements for which the requirements of remaining motionless in a horizontal space preclude MRI. There is thus an urgent need for a brain imaging technology that is more portable and less restricting than current MRI scanners. One way to address these issues is to decrease the size of the MRI magnet to make a head-only system which does not confine the body, but this approach leads to drastically reduced static field (B0) homogeneity which, with current technologies, precludes high resolution imaging. Now, with the support from BRAIN Initiative grant R24 MH105998, we have addressed the problem by developing new hardware, as well as new acquisition and reconstruction methods, capable of producing high quality brain images despite extreme B0 inhomogeneity. The goal of this U01 project is to build upon these efforts by designing, building, and validating the first-ever human MRI scanner requiring only the head to be inside the magnet bore and having a large window for viewing outside the magnet bore. The small size, weight, and power requirements of this 1.5 Tesla MRI system will enable it to be transported and sited almost anywhere in the world and will be able to bring the magnet to the subject rather than the other way around. To achieve this, a team of leading experts from multiple disciplines and institutions has been assembled. The hardware and software components of this revolutionary MRI system will be constructed and debugged in the first 2 years of the project, the system will be assembled and tested in years 3- 4, and finally in year 5, the MRI system will be piloted in a first of its kind study of motor coordination and planning during natural reaching behaviors.