EAGER: Brain Responses to Visual Stimuli in Sharks Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI)

加州大学圣地亚哥分校获得了一笔拨款，用于开发在活鲨鱼身上进行功能磁共振成像（FMRI）实验的方法，以便将它们的大脑作为一个完整的神经网络来研究，并提供脊椎动物神经系统如何在结构和功能上进化的信息。了解这种组织及其与鲨鱼行为和生态的关系，对我们理解脊椎动物神经系统的进化，以及脊椎动物大脑的形式和功能之间的关系具有重要意义。近年来，利用功能磁共振成像技术在人类神经科学方面取得了巨大进展，在一系列磁共振图像中检测到大脑活动的局部变化，从而可以测量大脑活动作为时间的函数。结合先进的非侵入性、高分辨率MRI定量软骨鱼大脑形态的方法，该项目的目标是发展FMRI能力，以促进研究软骨鱼形态和功能之间的关系。然而，虽然在人类身上进行功能磁共振成像现在是常规的，但在鲨鱼身上进行功能磁共振成像需要软件和硬件的开发和改进，才能在活的部分水下水生标本中收集可靠、高质量的解剖和功能MRI数据。因此，我们的主要目标是发展这些技术进步，并证明在鲨鱼神经系统中进行功能磁共振成像实验的能力。该项目将为研究鲨鱼神经系统以及其他水生模型系统的形态和功能之间的关系提供一套独特的方法，因此对许多研究人员来说，形态和功能之间的联系非常重要，但在控制良好的实验平台上难以同时探索，因此具有广泛的意义。该项目还促进了形态学、生理学和海洋生物群落在成像、计算和数据分析方面的跨学科合作和培训。该奖项的成果，包括方法、设备设计和数据分析软件，将通过数字鱼类图书馆网站（http://www.digitalfishlibrary.org）向研究界发布。

The University of California at San Diego is awarded a grant to develop methods for performing functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) experiments in living sharks in order to study their brains as a complete neural network and provide information on how vertebrate neural systems have both structurally and functionally evolved. Understanding this organization and its relationship to shark behavior and ecology has major implications for our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate nervous systems, and the relationship between form and function in the vertebrate brain. In recent years, great advances in human neuroscience have been made using FMRI, where localized changes in brain activity are detected within a sequence of MR images, thus allowing brain activation as a function of time to be measured. In conjunction with advanced methods for non-invasive, high-resolution MRI for quantitating form in chondrichthyan brains, the goal of this project is to develop FMRI capabilities that facilitate the study of the relationship between form and function in these fishes. However, while FMRI in humans is now routine, performing it in sharks requires the development and refinement of both software and hardware to collect reliable, high quality anatomical and functional MRI data in a living partially submerged aquatic specimen. Hence our key objective is to develop these technological advances, and demonstrate the capability of performing FMRI experiments in the shark nervous system. This project will provide a unique set of methods for studying the relationships between form and function in the shark nervous system, as well as other aquatic model systems, and thus has broad implications for many researchers for whom the link between morphology and function is of great importance, but difficult to explore simultaneously in a well-controlled experimental platform. This project also promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and training in imaging, computation, and data analysis for the morphology, physiology, and marine biology communities. The outcomes of this award including methods, equipment design, and data analysis software will be disseminated to the research community through the Digital Fish Library website (http://www.digitalfishlibrary.org).