AI Article Synopsis
- fMRI activation in white matter is debated, prompting a study to assess how field strength affects detection sensitivity and signal quality in brain imaging.
- Researchers conducted experiments at 1.5 T and 4 T while subjects performed finger tapping, focusing on activation in the sensorimotor cortex and internal capsule.
- The findings revealed that higher field strength improves sensitivity for detecting white matter activation more than for gray matter, suggesting that higher field MRI is beneficial for studying both tissue types.
Article Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation in white matter is controversial. Given that many of the studies that report fMRI activation in white matter used high field MRI systems, we investigated the field strength dependence of sensitivity to white matter fMRI activation. In addition, we evaluated the temporal signal to noise ratio (tSNR) of the different tissue types as a function of field strength. Data were acquired during a motor task (finger tapping) at 1.5 T and 4 T. Group and individual level activation results were considered in both the sensorimotor cortex and the posterior limb of the internal capsule. We found that sensitivity increases associated with field strength were greater for white matter than gray matter. The analysis of tSNR suggested that white matter might be less susceptible to increases in physiological noise related to increased field strength. We therefore conclude that high field MRI may be particularly advantageous for fMRI studies aimed at investigating activation in both gray and white matter.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3587428 | PMC |
| http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0058130 | PLOS |
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