In this article we review recent research on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of white matter (WM) integrity and the implications for age-related differences in cognition. Neurobiological mechanisms defined from DTI analyses suggest that a primary dimension of age-related decline in WM is a decline in the structural integrity of myelin, particularly in brain regions that myelinate later developmentally. Research integrating behavioral measures with DTI indicates that WM integrity supports the communication among cortical networks, particularly those involving executive function, perceptual speed, and memory (i.e., fluid cognition). In the absence of significant disease, age shares a substantial portion of the variance associated with the relation between WM integrity and fluid cognition. Current data are consistent with one model in which age-related decline in WM integrity contributes to a decreased efficiency of communication among networks for fluid cognitive abilities. Neurocognitive disorders for which older adults are at risk, such as depression, further modulate the relation between WM and cognition, in ways that are not as yet entirely clear. Developments in DTI technology are providing a new insight into both the neurobiological mechanisms of aging WM and the potential contribution of DTI to understanding functional measures of brain activity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Imaging Brain Aging and Neurodegenerative disease.
The investigation of the reproducibility in functional MRI (fMRI) is an important step in the quantification and analysis of paradigm-related brain activation. This article reports on reproducibility of cortical activation characterized by repeated fMRI runs (10 times) during the performance of a motor imagery and a passive auditory stimulation as a control task. Two parameters, the size of activation and BOLD signal contrast, were measured from regions-of-interest for 10 subjects across different threshold conditions. The variability of these parameters was normalized with respect to the mean obtained from 10 runs, and represented as the intrasession variability. It was found that the variability was significantly lower in the measurement of BOLD signal contrast as compared to the measurement of the size of activation. The variability of the activation volume measurement was greater in the motor imagery task than in the auditory tasks across all thresholds. This task-dependent difference was not apparent from the measurement of the BOLD signal contrast. The presence of threshold dependence in the variability measurement was also examined, but no such dependency was found. The results suggest that a measurement of BOLD signal itself is a more reliable indicator of paradigm-related brain activation during repeated fMRI scans.
The purpose of this work was to evaluate a previously proposed approach that aims to improve the point spread function (PSF) of MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) to avoid corruption by lipid signal arising from neighboring voxels. Retrospective spatial filtering can be used to alter the PSF; however, this either reduces spatial resolution or requires extending the acquisition in k-space at the cost of increased imaging time. Alternatively, the method evaluated here, PSF-choice, can modify the PSF localization to reduce the contamination from adjacent lipids by conforming the signal response more closely to the desired MRSI voxel grid. This is done without increasing scan time or degrading SNR of important metabolites. PSF-choice achieves improvements in spatial localization through modifications to the radiofrequency excitation pulses. An implementation of this method is reported for MRSI of the prostate, where it is demonstrated that, in 13 of 16 pilot prostate MRSI scans, intravoxel spectral contamination from lipid was significantly reduced when using PSF-choice. Phantom studies were also performed that demonstrate, compared with MRSI with standard Fourier phase encoding, out-of-voxel signal contamination of spectra was significantly reduced in MRSI with PSF-choice.
A new functional MRI protocol that integrates variable echo time (TE) acquisition and a block-design paradigm is proposed and evaluated with finger-tapping motor task. Simulations and experimental data show that the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) sensitivity achieved with this approach is comparable to that achieved using a conventional constant-TE protocol. The proposed variable-TE fMRI protocol provides valuable information that cannot be obtained with the constant-TE protocol. First, a field inhomogeneity map can be derived from the multi-TE data and used to correct EPI geometric distortions. Second, changes of T2* values due to the BOLD effect can be quantified. Third, for brain regions with pronounced susceptibility field gradients, the reduced BOLD sensitivity may be compensated for when the acquired multi-TE data are processed appropriately (e.g., with weighted summation). Fourth, large venules and veins may possibly be identified (depending on the vessel orientation and volume fraction) by evaluating the phase values of the multi-TE data. Finally, magnetic field drift over time can be measured from dynamic field maps available with this protocol.
A conscious rabbit preparation developed for fMRI, and the results from visual stimulation studies at a 4.7T magnetic field are described. The rabbit is ideal for these experiments because of its natural tolerance for restraint. High spatial and temporal resolution magnetic resonance images, without movement artifacts, were obtained during long periods of restraint. Functional activation in primary visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) were reproducibly observed in response to light stimulus. In comparison to existing anesthetized animal models, a functional response free of the anesthetic modulation can be recorded with the new approach. The conscious animal model can be applied to functional studies of sensory systems, learning and memory, and drug-induced cerebral activation.
