From October 5–9, thousands of neuroscientists from across the globe will convene in Chicago for the first time since 2019. Neuroscience 2024, the world’s largest annual meeting of researchers and clinicians exploring the brain and nervous system, will feature more than 10,500 presentations covering topics such as brain-computer interfaces, artificial intelligence, neurodegenerative disorders, treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders, and GLP-1 agonist effects on the brain.

We used pharmacological MRI (phMRI) to study dopamine (DA) systems in the rat brain, by measuring changes in local brain activity after administration of amphetamine (Amp) with and without two other dopaminergic drugs. For phMRI Amp is idea as a tool, due to its well-characterised and robust response as well being an indirect DA agonist (on both D1 and D2-type of DA receptors). Thus by manipulating Amp stimulation using specific D1 and D2 antagonists, one may be able to ascertain for which components of the phMRI response the receptor types are responsible, with the ultimate goal of gaining information on the nature of the BOLD signal regarding transmitter interaction. T2-weighted fMRI (2.35T Bruker system) was used to identify the pattern and determinants of Amp-induced brain activation in drug-naïve rats (3mg/kg, i.v, n=8). Additionally we investigated the effect of pre-treating individual cohorts of rats with D1 antagonist SCH23390(0.5mg/kg, i.v, n=8) or sulpiride (50mg/kg, i.v, n=8) before acute challe...

Here we demonstrate a new basis of signal change in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) related to neuronal function, independent of blood oxygenation or flow. Time series MRI data acquired from living, superfused brain slices of adult rat revealed that th...

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by movement disorders, cognitive decline and psychiatric symptoms. In this study, we characterized the behavioral performance, survival and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

Our previous study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which is not considered as one of the olfactory centers, responded well to olfactory stimulations similar to the ventrolateral primary olfactory cortex (i.e., the piriform cortex and olfactory tubercle). The present study was aimed to investigate neural projections from olfactory cortices to mPFC by using manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI), a newly developed in vivo neural tracing technique. Rats were anesthetized and MnCl2 (100 mM, 0.2-0.5 μl) was injected stereotaxically by using a glass micropipette into several parts of olfactory pathway. Injection of Mn2+, a biological calcium analogue and paramagnetic tract tracing agent, allows highlighting specific brain areas that are active. T1-weighted multislice spin-echo images were acquired at 8 h and 24 h after Mn2+ injection using SMIS MRI system, consisted of a 4.7 T/400 horizontal superconducting magnet equipped with actively shielded gradie...

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has become an important analytical tool to study neurodegenerative diseases. We used EPI-BOLD fMRI technique to acquire functional images of patients with familial essential tremor (FET) disorder and healthy control volunteers, during the same motor task activity. Functional images were used to produce brain activation maps of the patients and volunteers. These functional maps of the primary somatosensorial and motor cortexes of patients and control subjects were compared for functional differences. The averaged functional brain images of eight of each case are presented, it can be observed that there are differences in active zones. The results presented in this work show that there are differences in functional maps during motor task activation between control subjects and FET patients suggesting a cerebral functional reorganization or plasticity, that can be mapped with BOLD-fMRI.

Background: Deception is a cognitive phenomenon with important practical implications. Existence of a correlation between the P-300 component of evoked brain potentials and deception suggests that the cognitive distinction between truth and lie could be associated with differences in local brain activity. The guilty knowledge task (GKT) has been used to simulate deception under laboratory and field conditions. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) allows high-resolution study of changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during cognition. We used fMRI to identify brain regions differentially activated by deceptive and truthful responses on the GKT. Methods: fMRI was performed in 23 normal subjects during the GKT. The amplitude and location of fMRI signal during and after deceptive and truthful responses were recorded. After exclusion of five subjects for task errors and motion artifact, data was analyzed for rCBF differences between truthful and deceptive responses. Results: Increased rCBF was s...

Typically, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is analyzed using statistical models that rely on linear time series methods. However, studies have shown that the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast may not be a linear response to neural activation. Given that there is a nonlinear component to fMRI data, our understanding of the hemodynamic response may benefit by the use of nonlinear methods. Phase synchronization occurs when a relationship exists between two or more nonlinear oscillators and the instantaneous phases of these oscillators become locked. In order to investigate the occurrence of phase synchronization in fMRI studies, we acquired data on three normal volunteers for motor, visual, and language tasks and performed the standard analysis using SPM’99, which analyzes fMRI data according to the General Linear Model. After the activation maps were created for each of the tasks, we selected 4x4 clusters in the cluster centroids. We then performed the phase synchronization ...

In this work, we have developed a multimodality approach by combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical imaging methods to assess brain tumor both at macro- and microscopic level for small animals. Macroscopic imaging technique, like magnetic...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides detailed information about anatomical changes in the brain. However, the use of diagnostic routine MRI in patients with diffuse traumatic brain injury may underestimate the severity of injury. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has been useful in the diagnosis of stroke and ischaemia, where it has been reported to be a more sensitive indicator of the early pathological changes. In DWI and ADC (apparent diffusion coefficient) -mapping, the random movement of hydrogen atoms mainly in the water molecule is measured. These measurements yield information about structure tissue quality and pathophysiology. Disruptions in the blood–brain barrier seem to be associated with vasogenic edema and changes in the ADC values. In this study we have examined the effects on brain tissue of moderate air blast waves from explosions. A specially designed shock tube was used, in which anaesthetized rats were exposed to moderate air blast by the detonation of a charge consisting of the non...