Multi-parametric vascular and metabolic MRI for the study of cerebral plasticity

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The brain is known to be a highly plastic organ, meaning that it has the lifelong ability to alter its structure and function following training to learn a new task and in response to physiological changes such as injury and lifestyle (e.g. diet or exercise). For example, it has been shown using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that learning a motor task such as juggling can lead to changes in brain structure and function. But while we know that the brain changes, the extent of these changes, their biological nature, whether these changes are maintained in the long term and whether they can be harnessed for disease recovery are all the subject of ongoing debate. This is because brain plasticity involves multiple subtle structural, vascular and metabolic changes. These changes are notoriously difficult to study in humans using single MRI techniques and small sample sizes.