Neuronal metabolite (e.g., glutamate, GABA) concentrations in the brain are known to be correlated with neural activity. Currently, fMRS is the primary tool for measuring neurochemical changes in response to brain activity. However, fMRS has several major practical limitations, including low spatial resolution, low SNR, and very limited brain coverage. In this work, a new dynamic 1H-MRSI technique is used to address these difficulties. This technique can map dynamic metabolic changes from the whole brain at high spatial and temporal resolutions. In addition, it can simultaneously acquire fMRI images to track brain functional activity during the scan. With this unique capability, we have carried out functional MRSI experiments with motor tasks to investigate the coupling between neural metabolism and neural activity. The experimental results clearly show an increase in Glx in the motor cortex during the motor activation.
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