Development of Ultra-High Resolution in Vivo NMR Methods for Functional Molecular Physiology Studies in Mouse Brain

该奖项为开发用于小鼠大脑超高分辨率功能性磁共振成像（f-MRI）所需的硬件和软件提供支持。他们的工作将集中在设计微型射频线圈和设计脉冲序列上，这些脉冲序列是为老鼠大脑中异常小的体积元素量身定制的。额外的工作将实施fMRI数据处理方法，用于时域分析和可重复性优化，以创建在高空间和时间分辨率下正常和转基因小鼠中表示功能神经能量变化的地图。提出的工具将促进一种类型的功能分子生理学研究，现在不可能与小鼠。这样的研究在大鼠这样的大型动物中是可能的，MRI和相关技术监测大脑能量和血流动力学的能力表明，大脑能量的高分辨率地图提供了神经元功能的直接测量。可用于基因敲除和转基因动物的技术的存在，使小鼠成为从基因到整个器官的各个层次的机体功能研究的一个有吸引力的目标。结合使用这两种技术的能力应该会导致对小鼠大脑生理学的详细了解取得重大进展，进而扩展到其他哺乳动物的大脑。

This award provides support for development of hardware and software needed for ultra-high resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI) of the mouse brain. Efforts will focus on design of miniature radio-frequency coils and on design of pulse sequences tailored for the unusually small volume element of the mouse brain. Additional work will implement fMRI data processing methods for time-domain analysis and reproducibility optimization to create maps representing changes in functional neuroenergetics at both high spatial and temporal resolution and in both normal and transgenic mice. The proposed tools will facilitate functional molecular physiology studies of a type not now possible with the mouse. Such studies are possible with larger animals such as the rat where the ability of MRI and related techniques to monitor cerebral energetics and hemodynamics has shown that high resolution maps of cerebral energetics provide a direct measure of neuronal function. The existence of techniques that can be used to produce gene knockouts and transgenic animals has made the mouse an attractive target for studies of organismal function at all levels, from that of the gene to that of the whole organ. The ability to combine use of the two technologies should lead to significant advances in detailed understanding of the physiology of the mouse brain and, by extension, brains of other mammals.