Investigating the Neuronal and Vascular Contributions to the Spontaneous BOLD fMRI Signal Fluctuations Underlying Functional Connectivity

研究神经元和血管对功能连接下自发 BOLD fMRI 信号波动的贡献

• 批准号: 418443-2012
• 负责人: Chen, JingJean
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=630130
• 关键词: Investigating; Neuronal; Vascular; Contributions; Spontaneous

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful technology offering unprecedented opportunities for studying the brain. In particular, functional MRI (fMRI), largely based on changes in blood oxygenation (blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD)), has enabled the measurement of correlates of brain activity, and has since found applications in a wide range of areas spanning medicine and forensics. Recently, it was found that spontaneous fluctuations in the BOLD fMRI signal could be used to measure the synchrony (or connectivity) between brain regions. This technique, termed functional connectivity (fcMRI), has shown tremendous potential for studying the brain in health and disease. However, although fcMRI is widely assumed to reflect neuronal processes, the actual mechanisms underlying the BOLD signal fluctuations remain incompletely understood, leaving great potential for misinterpretation of fcMRI measurements. The BOLD fMRI signal is strongly modulated by both neuronal and vascular mechanisms, which are challenging to resolve. This is further complicated by the contribution from a range of non-neuronal noise sources to the BOLD signal fluctuations. The overall goal of the proposed research is to advance the understanding of neuroimaging markers of functional connectivity. First, this work will provide new MRI acquisition methods to significantly reduce the contribution of non-neuronal noise to the BOLD signal. Subsequently, new analyses frameworks integrating this new methodology and various MRI measures of brain physiology will be proposed to help resolve the neuronal and vascular contributions to fluctuations in the BOLD fMRI signal, hence fcMRI measures. This research will furnish novel neuroimaging techniques for examining the biophysical mechanisms underpinning brain function, and will address the urgent need for more effective translation of cutting-edge MRI techniques to neuroscience research.

磁共振成像（MRI）是一种强大的技术，为研究大脑提供了前所未有的机会。特别是功能性磁共振成像（fMRI），主要基于血氧水平（BOLD）的变化，已经能够测量大脑活动的相关性，并且已经在医学和法医学的广泛领域中找到了应用。最近，人们发现BOLD功能磁共振成像信号的自发波动可以用来测量大脑区域之间的同步性（或连通性）。这项技术被称为功能连接（fcMRI），在研究健康和疾病的大脑方面显示出巨大的潜力。然而，虽然fcMRI被广泛认为反映神经元的过程，BOLD信号波动的实际机制仍然不完全清楚，留下很大的可能性fcMRI测量的误解。BOLD fMRI信号受到神经元和血管机制的强烈调制，这是具有挑战性的解决方案。这是进一步复杂的非神经元噪声源的范围内的BOLD信号波动的贡献。这项研究的总体目标是促进对功能连接的神经影像学标记的理解。首先，这项工作将提供新的MRI采集方法，以显着减少非神经元噪声的BOLD信号的贡献。随后，新的分析框架，整合这种新的方法和各种MRI脑生理学的措施将被提出来帮助解决神经元和血管的贡献，在BOLD功能磁共振成像信号的波动，因此fcMRI措施。这项研究将提供新的神经成像技术，用于检查支撑大脑功能的生物物理机制，并将解决将尖端MRI技术更有效地转化为神经科学研究的迫切需求。