Directly mapping magnetic field effects of neuronal activity by magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain functional activity relies principally on changes in cerebral hemodynamics, which are more spatially and temporally distributed than the underlying neuronal activity changes. We present a novel MRI technique for mapping brain functional activity by directly detecting magnetic fields induced by neuronal firing. Using a well‐established visuomotor paradigm, the locations and latencies of activations in visual, motor, and premotor cortices were imaged at a temporal resolution of 100 msec and a spatial resolution of 3 mm, and were found to be in consistent with the electrophysiological and functional MRI (fMRI) literature. Signal strength was comparable to traditional event‐related fMRI methods: about 1% of the baseline signal. The magnetic‐source MRI technique greatly increases the temporal accuracy in detecting neuronal activity, providing a powerful new tool for mapping brain functional organization in human and animals. Hum. Brain Mapping 20:41–49, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

[1]  D. Cohen.  Magnetoencephalography: Evidence of Magnetic Fields Produced by Alpha-Rhythm Currents , 1968, Science.

[2]  J. Mazziotta,et al.  Tomographic mapping of human cerebral metabolism , 1981, Neurology.

[3]  M. Mintun,et al.  A Noninvasive Approach to Quantitative Functional Brain Mapping with H215O and Positron Emission Tomography , 1984, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[4]  M. Raichle,et al.  Focal physiological uncoupling of cerebral blood flow and oxidative metabolism during somatosensory stimulation in human subjects. , 1986, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[5]  M. Mintun,et al.  Nonoxidative glucose consumption during focal physiologic neural activity. , 1988, Science.

[6]  Alan Van Heuvelen,et al.  Intermediate physics for medicine and biology , 1989 .

[7]  M. Joy,et al.  In vivo detection of applied electric currents by magnetic resonance imaging. , 1989, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[8]  B. Rosen,et al.  Functional mapping of the human visual cortex by magnetic resonance imaging. , 1991, Science.

[9]  R. Turner,et al.  Dynamic magnetic resonance imaging of human brain activity during primary sensory stimulation. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[10]  Ravi S. Menon,et al.  Intrinsic signal changes accompanying sensory stimulation: functional brain mapping with magnetic resonance imaging. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[11]  R. Henkelman,et al.  RF Current Density Imaging in Homogeneous Media , 1992, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[12]  Jack L. Lancaster,et al.  Clustered pixels analysis for functional MRI activation studies of the human brain , 1995 .

[13]  W. Orrison,et al.  Functional Brain Imaging , 1995 .

[14]  J. Lewine,et al.  Clinical Electroencephalography and Event-Related Potentials , 1995 .

[15]  S. Ogawa,et al.  BOLD Based Functional MRI at 4 Tesla Includes a Capillary Bed Contribution: Echo‐Planar Imaging Correlates with Previous Optical Imaging Using Intrinsic Signals , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[16]  L. Parsons,et al.  Use of implicit motor imagery for visual shape discrimination as revealed by PET , 1995, Nature.

[17]  J Xiong,et al.  Assessment and optimization of functional MRI analyses , 1996, Human brain mapping.

[18]  P. Fox,et al.  Retinotopic organization of early visual spatial attention effects as revealed by PET and ERPs , 1997, Human brain mapping.

[19]  J. M. Ollinger,et al.  Positron Emission Tomography , 2018, Handbook of Small Animal Imaging.

[20]  R. Passingham,et al.  Signal-, set-, and movement-related activity in the human premotor cortex , 1998, Neuropsychologia.

[21]  B. Feige,et al.  The Role of Higher-Order Motor Areas in Voluntary Movement as Revealed by High-Resolution EEG and fMRI , 1999, NeuroImage.

[22]  BIBLIOGRAFIA para a disciplina de FÍSICA MÉDICA Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology (1997), Russell K. Hobbie, Biological Physics Series, 3ª edição, Springer-Verlag. , 1999 .

[23]  J. Bodurka,et al.  Current-induced magnetic resonance phase imaging. , 1999, Journal of magnetic resonance.

[24]  K. Iramina,et al.  Neuronal current distribution imaging using magnetic resonance , 1999, IEEE International Magnetics Conference.

[25]  S. Hillyard,et al.  Involvement of striate and extrastriate visual cortical areas in spatial attention , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[26]  H. Liu,et al.  An investigation of the impulse functions for the nonlinear BOLD response in functional MRI. , 2000, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[27]  Christoph M. Michel,et al.  Visually induced activity in human frontal motor areas during simple visuomotor performance , 2000, Neuroreport.

[28]  E. Halgren,et al.  Spatiotemporal mapping of brain activity by integration of multiple imaging modalities , 2001, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[29]  M Bach,et al.  Coupling of neural activity and BOLD fMRI response: New insights by combination of fMRI and VEP experiments in transition from single events to continuous stimulation , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[30]  James S. Schwaber,et al.  Scattered-Light Imaging in Vivo Tracks Fast and Slow Processes of Neurophysiological Activation , 2001, NeuroImage.

[31]  S. Morand,et al.  Electric source imaging of human brain functions , 2001, Brain Research Reviews.

[32]  J B Poline,et al.  Transient decrease in water diffusion observed in human occipital cortex during visual stimulation , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[33]  G Gratton,et al.  The event-related optical signal: a new tool for studying brain function. , 2001, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[34]  E Yacoub,et al.  Detection of the early decrease in fMRI signal in the motor area , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[35]  J. Bodurka,et al.  Toward direct mapping of neuronal activity: MRI detection of ultraweak, transient magnetic field changes , 2002 .

[36]  R. Freeman,et al.  Single-Neuron Activity and Tissue Oxygenation in the Cerebral Cortex , 2003, Science.