Imaging Human Brain Function with Minimal Mobility Restrictions

磁共振成像（MRI），通过提供对人脑成像的唯一手段 结构和活动的高空间分辨率，已演变成一个不可或缺的工具， 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 高级行为和认知，以及神经退行性和发育 疾病，动物模型的适用性有限。然而，由于目前 实验的局限性，有广泛的主题和人类行为， MRI技术完全无法检测到。MRI目前依赖于大型，昂贵， 固定的扫描仪，其中受试者必须保持不动很长一段时间内， 受限的水平空间。因此，任何涉及运动的行为，尤其是那些涉及 与自然环境中的对象的直立实时交互不能被研究。等 研究具有巨大的科学意义，例如，在理解神经元的基础上， 运动规划，但也有相当大的实际和临床重要性，以最终 了解并解决与损伤、中风或疾病相关的运动缺陷， 阻止像喂食和伸手这样重要的日常行为。特别相关的是， 这方面是具有有限的行走或前庭功能的大量人群，或者 难以保持姿势或平稳的运动， 在水平空间中不动排除了MRI。因此，迫切需要一个大脑成像 该技术比当前的MRI扫描仪更便携，限制更少。的一种方法 解决这些问题的一个方法是减小MRI磁体的尺寸， 其不限制身体，但这种方法导致静态场（B 0）急剧减小 均匀性，这在当前技术下妨碍了高分辨率成像。现在随着 在BRAIN Initiative赠款R24 MH 105998的支持下，我们通过以下方式解决了这个问题： 开发新的硬件以及新的采集和重建方法，能够 产生高质量的脑图像，尽管B 0极不均匀。U 01的目标 项目是通过设计，建造和验证有史以来第一个人类 MRI扫描仪仅需要头部位于磁体孔内，并具有大窗口 用于观察磁体孔的外部。这款1.5的小型、重量和功率要求 特斯拉MRI系统将使其能够在世界上几乎任何地方运输和定位， 将能够将磁铁带到受试者身上，而不是相反。为了实现这一点， 已组建了一个由多个学科和机构的主要专家组成的小组。的 这一革命性的MRI系统的硬件和软件组件将被构建， 在项目的前2年进行调试，系统将在第3年进行组装和测试- 4，最后在第5年，MRI系统将在第一次同类运动研究中进行试点 协调和规划在自然达到的行为。

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.