Improved knowledge of the various parameters that influence unwanted peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is vital for the development of strategies to mitigate potential safety issues related to the latest generati...

Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) utilizes specific MRI sequences and advanced data processing that allow for the mapping of water diffusion throughout biological tissue. One application of dMRI is white matter tractography, a method ...

Although the role of the frontal cortex in executive performance has been widely accepted, issues regarding the contribution of subcortical structures to these functions remain unresolved. In this study, the neural circuitry underlying selective sub-components of working memory was investigated using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten healthy volunteers performed a verbal memory task, which allowed different aspects of working memory function such as maintenance, retrieval and manipulation to be tested within the same general paradigm. During performance of this task as a whole, fMRI revealed increases in signal intensity throughout the frontostriatal network. However, when signal intensity during the manipulation of information within working memory was compared to that during periods requiring only simple maintenance and retrieval, significant changes were observed only in the caudate nuclei, bilaterally. These results suggest an essential and specific role for the caudate nu...

Introduction: Preterm inflammation-induced white matter injury (WMI) is associated with well-known neurocognitive impairments. Early monitoring of neuroprotection with a non-invasive tool such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could greatly improve th...

Functionally related areas of cerebral cortex maintain correlated time signals in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These well-organized areas constitute networks that are identified in resting state functional connec...

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly used for the in vivo morphometry of cytoarchitectonically distinct hippocampal (HC) subfields. Demarcation of HC subfields can be achieved considerably faster with automated methods than w...

White matter (WM) and pericyte degeneration have been observed in many neurodegenerative diseases. Pericytes are vascular mural cells embedded in the wall of small blood vessels. In the brain, they control blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity and cerebra...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most practicable means to assess structural changes in the injured central nervous system (CNS) in vivo over time non-invasively. Thus far, in vivo MRI studies in rodent models of spinal cord injury suffer from low spatial resolution and motion artifacts. The aim of the present study was to assess the capacity of a 17.6 Tesla MRI to detect pathological changes occurring in a rat spinal cord contusion injury model over time. Adult female Fischer 344 rats weighing 150-160g received a contusion injury at thoracic level T10 using the IH Impactor (200 kdyn applied force), which causes severe degeneration of the injured spinal cord parenchyma leading to irreversible impairment of locomotor function. Starting at 1 week up to 4 weeks post-injury, high-resolution images were obtained from anesthetized rats using a Bruker Avance 750WB MRI system at 17.6 Tesla. A multi-slice 2D gradient echo was used as imaging sequence with an echo time of 4.1 ms and a repetition time around 2...

Intraplantar injection of capsaicin produces primary and secondary hyperalgesia, modelling some of the symptoms associated with persistent pain states. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) haemodynamic responses have demonstrated nociceptive-evoked activation of the brain (Malisza and Docherty, 2001). Here, T2-weighted BOLD-contrast fMRI was used to study the time course of capsaicin-evoked BOLD responses in halothane anaesthetised rats (Shah et al., 2004). Rapid Acquisition Relaxation Enhanced (RARE) sequence data was obtained from a continuous scan comprising of 12 basal volume sets, each collected every 4 min 40sec, followed by intradermal injection of capsaicin (30µg/5µl saline with 7% Tween 80, n=8) and a further collection of 18 volume sets. Data were analysed using SPM99 (random effects analysis, p<0.05). Capsaicin-evoked significant increases in BOLD response in the nucleus accumbens (T=6.81, p<0.05), ventral-medial thalamic nuclei (T=...

Many neuroimaging biomarkers based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or 18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) have been suggested for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)/mild cognitive impairment (MCI) detection, which can be roughly c...