NeuroImage
-
Hypoxia can induce physiological changes. This study aims to explore effects of high-altitude (HA) hypoxia on cerebral iron concentration. Twenty-nine healthy sea-level participants were tested shortly before and after approximately 4-week adaptation to the HA environment at fQinghai-Tibet Plateau (4200m), and were re-investigated after re-adaptation to the sea-level environment one year later. ⋯ Further studies based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) suggest that the fractional anisotropy increases and the mean diffusivity decreases after HA exposure in six deep gray matter nuclei, with linear dependence on iron concentration only in putamen. In conclusion, the magnetic susceptibility value can serve as a quantitative marker of brain iron, and variations of regional susceptibility reported herein indicate that HA hypoxia can result in significant iron deposition in most deep gray matter regions. Additionally, the linear dependence of DTI metrics on iron concentration in putamen indicates a potential relationship between ferritin and water diffusion.
-
A number of central nervous system (CNS) diseases exhibit changes in myelin content and magnetic resonance longitudinal, T1, and transverse, T2, relaxation times, which therefore represent important biomarkers of CNS pathology. Among the methods applied for measurement of myelin water fraction (MWF) and relaxation times, the multicomponent driven equilibrium single pulse observation of T1 and T2 (mcDESPOT) approach is of particular interest. mcDESPOT permits whole brain mapping of multicomponent T1 and T2, with data acquisition accomplished within a clinically realistic acquisition time. Unfortunately, previous studies have indicated the limited performance of mcDESPOT in the setting of the modest signal-to-noise range of high-resolution mapping, required for the depiction of small structures and to reduce partial volume effects. ⋯ We demonstrate that this effect is absent in the BMC analysis. Our results also showed improved parameter estimation for BMC as compared to SRC for high-resolution mapping. Overall we find that the combination of BMC analysis and mcDESPOT, BMC-mcDESPOT, shows excellent performance for accurate high-resolution whole-brain mapping of MWF and bi-component transverse and longitudinal relaxation times within a clinically realistic acquisition time.
-
Targeted dorsal root ganglion (DRG) electrical stimulation (i.e. ganglionic field stimulation - GFS) is an emerging therapeutic approach to alleviate chronic pain. Here we describe blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to noxious hind-limb stimulation in a rat model that replicates clinical GFS using an electrode implanted adjacent to the DRG. Acute noxious sensory stimulation in the absence of GFS caused robust BOLD fMRI response in brain regions previously associated with sensory and pain-related response, such as primary/secondary somatosensory cortex, retrosplenial granular cortex, thalamus, caudate putamen, nucleus accumbens, globus pallidus, and amygdala. ⋯ Additional control experiments also revealed minimal BOLD fMRI response to GFS at therapeutic intensity when presented in a standard block-design paradigm. High intensity GFS produced a BOLD signal map similar to acute noxious stimulation when presented in a block-design. These findings are the first to identify the specific brain region responses to neuromodulation at the DRG level and suggest possible mechanisms for GFS-induced treatment of chronic pain.
-
Social connectedness theory posits that the brain processes social rejection as a threat to survival. Recent electrophysiological evidence suggests that midfrontal theta (4-8Hz) oscillations in the EEG provide a window on the processing of social rejection. Here we examined midfrontal theta dynamics (power and inter-trial phase synchrony) during the processing of social evaluative feedback. ⋯ Theta phase, however, differed from the FRN by also displaying stronger phase synchrony in response to rejection vs. acceptance feedback. Together, this study highlights distinct roles for midfrontal theta power and phase synchrony in response to social evaluative feedback. Our findings contribute to the literature by showing that midfrontal theta oscillatory power is sensitive to social rejection but only when peer rejection is unexpected, and this theta response is governed by a widely distributed neural network implicated in saliency detection and conflict monitoring.
-
Facial expressions attract attention due to their motivational significance. Previous work focused on attentional biases towards threat-related, fearful faces, although healthy participants tend to avoid mild threat. Growing evidence suggests that neuronal gamma (>30Hz) and alpha-band activity (8-12Hz) play an important role in attentional selection, but it is unknown if such oscillatory activity is involved in the guidance of attention through facial expressions. ⋯ We observed an attentional cost of processing the face distractors, as reflected in lower task performance on targets with short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA <150ms) between faces and targets. On the neuronal level, attentional orienting to face distractors led to enhanced gamma band activity in bilateral occipital and parietal regions, when fearful faces were presented in the same hemifield as targets, but only in short SOA trials. Our findings provide evidence that both top-down and bottom-up attentional biases are reflected in parieto-occipital gamma-band activity.