Biomedical subjects

Renxin Chu

Publications and source records attributed to Renxin Chu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Large-amplitude, spatially correlated fluctuations in BOLD fMRI signals during extended rest and early sleep stages.

A number of recent studies of human brain activity using blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI and EEG have reported the presence of spatiotemporal patterns of correlated activity in the absence of external stimuli. Although these patterns have been hypothesized to contain important information about brain architecture, little is known about their origin or about their relationship to active cognitive processes such as conscious awareness and monitoring of the environment. In this study, we have investigated the amplitude and spatiotemporal characteristics of resting-state activity patterns and their dependence on the subjects' alertness. For this purpose, BOLD fMRI was performed at 3.0 T on 12 normal subjects using a visual stimulation protocol, followed by a 27 min rest period, during which subjects were allowed to fall asleep. In subjects who were asleep at the end of the scan, we found (a) a higher amplitude of BOLD signal fluctuation during rest compared with subjects who were awake at the end of the scan; (b) spatially independent patterns of correlated activity that involve all of gray matter, including deep brain nuclei; (c) many patterns that were consistent across subjects; (d) that average percentage levels of fluctuation in visual cortex (VC) and whole brain were higher in subjects who were asleep (up to 1.71% and 1.16%, respectively) than in those who were awake (up to 1.15% and 0.96%) at the end of the scan and were comparable with those levels evoked by intense visual stimulation (up to 1.85% and 0.76% for two subject groups); (e) no confirmation of correlation, positive or negative, between thalamus and VC found in earlier studies. These findings suggest that resting-state activity continues during sleep and does not require active cognitive processes or conscious awareness.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Temporal dynamics of the BOLD fMRI impulse response.

Using computer simulations and high-resolution fMRI experiments in humans (n=6) and rats (n=8), we investigated to what extent BOLD fMRI temporal resolution is limited by dispersion in the venous vasculature. For this purpose, time-to-peak (TTP) and full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the BOLD impulse response (IR) function were determined. In fMRI experiments, a binary m-sequence probe method was used to obtain high-sensitivity model-free single-pixel estimates of IR. Simulations of postcapillary flow suggested that flow-related dispersion leads to a TTP and FWHM increase, which can amount to several seconds in larger pial veins. fMRI experiments showed substantial spatial variation in IR timing within human visual cortex, together with a correlation between TTP and FWHM. Averaged across the activated regions and across subjects, TTP and FWHM were 4.51+/-0.52 and 4.04+/-0.42 s, respectively. In regions of interest (ROI) weighted toward the larger venous structures, TTP and FWHM increased to 5.07+/-0.64 and 4.32+/-0.48 s, respectively. In rat somatosensory cortex, TTP and FWHM were substantially shorter than in humans (2.73+/-0.60 and 2.28+/-0.63 s, respectively). These results are consistent with a substantial macrovascular dispersive contribution to BOLD IR in humans, and furthermore suggest that neurovascular coupling is a relatively rapid process, with a resolution below 2.3 s FWHM.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Signal-to-noise ratio and parallel imaging performance of a 16-channel receive-only brain coil array at 3.0 Tesla.

The performance of a 16-channel receive-only RF coil for brain imaging at 3.0 Tesla was investigated using a custom-built 16-channel receiver. Both the image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the noise amplification (g-factor) in sensitivity-encoding (SENSE) parallel imaging applications were quantitatively evaluated. Furthermore, the performance was compared with that of hypothetical coils with one, two, four, and eight elements (n) by combining channels in software during image reconstruction. As expected, both the g-factor and SNR improved substantially with n. Compared to an equivalent (simulated) single-element coil, the 16-channel coil showed a 1.87-fold average increase in brain SNR. This was mainly due to an increase in SNR in the peripheral brain (an up to threefold SNR increase), whereas the SNR increase in the center of the brain was 4%. The incremental SNR gains became relatively small at large n, with a 9% gain observed when n was increased from 8 to 16. Compared to the (larger) product birdcage head coil, SNR increased by close to a factor of 2 in the center, and by up to a factor of 6 in the periphery of the brain. For low SENSE acceleration (rate-2), g-factors leveled off for n>4, and improved only slightly (1.4% averaged over brain) going from n=8 to n=16. Improvements in g for n>8 were larger for higher acceleration rates, with the improvement for rate-3 averaging 12.0%.

Brain Mapping↗

PubMed2004

Scalable multichannel MRI data acquisition system.

A scalable multichannel digital MRI receiver system was designed to achieve high bandwidth echo-planar imaging (EPI) acquisitions for applications such as BOLD-fMRI. The modular system design allows for easy extension to an arbitrary number of channels. A 16-channel receiver was developed and integrated with a General Electric (GE) Signa 3T VH/3 clinical scanner. Receiver performance was evaluated on phantoms and human volunteers using a custom-built 16-element receive-only brain surface coil array. At an output bandwidth of 1 MHz, a 100% acquisition duty cycle was achieved. Overall system noise figure and dynamic range were better than 0.85 dB and 84 dB, respectively. During repetitive EPI scanning on phantoms, the relative temporal standard deviation of the image intensity time-course was below 0.2%. As compared to the product birdcage head coil, 16-channel reception with the custom array yielded a nearly 6-fold SNR gain in the cerebral cortex and a 1.8-fold SNR gain in the center of the brain. The excellent system stability combined with the increased sensitivity and SENSE capabilities of 16-channel coils are expected to significantly benefit and enhance fMRI applications.

Brain↗

PubMed2004

Hunting for neuronal currents: absence of rapid MRI signal changes during visual-evoked response.

While recent reports have advocated the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect the effects of neuronal currents associated with human brain activity, only preliminary experimental data have been presented so far to demonstrate the feasibility of the method. Furthermore, it has not been adequately demonstrated that (1) MRI can separate neuronal current (NC) effects from other effects such as blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) contrast; (2) MRI has adequate sensitivity to detect NCs in vivo. In this work, we introduce a method that can separate slow (e.g., BOLD) processes from potential rapid (e.g., NC) processes and apply this method to investigate whether MRI allows detection of an NC response to a visual stimulus. MRI studies (n = 8) at 3.0 T using a sensitive multichannel detector showed insignificant effects related to NCs (averaged t < 0.05), in the presence of a highly significant BOLD signal (t = 6.15 +/- 0.90). In contrast, magnetoencephalography (MEG) experiments performed under similar conditions on the same subjects showed highly significant electrical activity (t = 7.90 +/- 2.28). It is concluded that, under the conditions used in this study, the sensitivity of MRI to detect evoked responses through NCs is at least an order of magnitude below that of BOLD-based functional MRI (fMRI) or MEG and too low to be practically useful.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗