In vivo mapping of functional domains and axonal connectivity in cat visual cortex using magnetic resonance imaging.
Noninvasive cognitive neuroimaging studies based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are of ever-increasing importance for basic and clinical neurosciences. The explanatory power of fMRI could be greatly expanded, however, if the pattern of the neuronal circuitry underlying functional activation could be made visible in an equally noninvasive manner. In this study, blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD)-based fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed in the same cat visual cortex, and the foci of fMRI activation utilized as seeding points for 3D DTI fiber reconstruction algorithms, thus providing the map of the axonal circuitry underlying visual information processing. The methods developed in this study will lay the foundation for in vivo neuroanatomy and the ability for noninvasive longitudinal studies of brain development.
Kim
Dae-Shik
DS
Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Radiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA. dskim@bu.edu
Kim
Mina
M
Ronen
Itamar
I
Formisano
Elia
E
Kim
Keun-Ho
KH
Ugurbil
Kamil
K
Mori
Susumu
S
Goebel
Rainer
R
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D002415:Cats; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology