INVESTIGATION OF THE BRAIN FUNCTION OF THE VARIOUS KINDS OF DISORDERD SUBJECTS BY COMPLETE NONINVASIVE BRAIN MAPPING TECHNIQUE

本研究始于1999年，目的是利用新发展的完全无创脑成像技术——光学地形图技术，获取各类障碍受试者的有效脑活动信息，以促进教育、康复和功能恢复。光学地形图是一种新的脑功能成像测量方法，用于脑皮层含氧和脱氧血红蛋白的区域浓度变化。与PET、fMRI和MEG等其他功能成像技术相比，光学地形图有几个优点，主要是便携性和对受试者运动的敏感度降低。由于本研究是最早将光学地形学应用于实际的研究之一，因此积累光学地形学在无序受试者中的适用性的基础数据是本研究的重要因素。通过光学地形图和功能磁共振成像测量手指敲击时的大脑活动，发现光学地形图获得的激活区中心与功能磁共振成像获得的激活区中心位移小于15 mm。发现光学地形图所使用的近红外线对人体皮肤完全无创，证实了光学地形图适用于人类婴儿。3 .利用光学地形图对新生儿睡眠时枕叶的脑活动进行观察，发现其血流存在空间同步的自发振荡。正常成人在进行语法判断和空间判断时的脑活动，发现在进行语法判断时，总血红蛋白增加到布洛卡区。

The purpose of this study, started since 1999, is to gain valid informations about the brain activity of the several kinds of disordered subjects in order to facilitate the education, rehabilitation, and recovery of function by using newly developed completely noninvasive brain mapping technique, optical topography. The optical topography is a new measurement method for functional imaging of brain activity accompanied by regional concentration changes in oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin in the cerbral cortex. Optical topography has several advantages compared with other functional imaging techniques such as PET, fMRI, and MEG, mainly portability and decreased sensitivity to subject movement. Since this study is one of the earliest studies putting the optical topography to practical use, accumulating the fundamental data about applicability of this technique to the disordered subjects was the important factor of this study.1. Brain activity during finger tapping was measured by optic topography and fMRl and it was found that the center of the activation area obtained by using optical topography is displaced by less than 15 mm from that obtained by using fMRI.2. It is found that the near infra red rays used by the optical topography is completely noninvasive to human skin and it is confirmed that the optical topography is applicable to human infants.3. The brain activity of occipital lobe of the sleeping newborn infants by using optical topography and it was found that there was spatially synchronizing spontaneous oscillation of the blood flow.4. The brain activity of the normal adults during making grammatical judgements and spatial judgements by using optical topography and it was found that total hemoglobin increased to Broca's area when subjects made grammatical judgements.