Abstract #0472

Mapping neuronal activity associated with finger tapping using direct measurement of 17O at 7 Tesla: proof-of-concept experiment

Tanja Platt¹, Louise Ebersberger^2,3, Vanessa L Franke^1,4, Armin M Nagel^1,5,6, Reiner Umathum¹, Heinz-Peter Schlemmer², Peter Bachert^1,4, Mark E Ladd^1,3,4, Andreas Korzowski¹, Sebastian C Niesporek¹, and Daniel Paech²

¹Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, ²Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, ³Faculty of Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, ⁴Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, ⁵Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany, ⁶Institute of Medical Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany

Dynamic ¹⁷O-MRI enables direct quantification of the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO₂) consumption. We investigated hemispherical dependence of the method in three healthy volunteers as well as its potential for mapping neuronal activity associated with finger tapping in one healthy volunteer. Our findings were consistent with previous results, demonstrating higher CMRO₂ values in gray compared to white matter. Evaluation of left/right hemispheric CMRO₂ values without sensomotoric stimulation demonstrated hemispherical independence of the technique. The finger-tapping experiment demonstrated increased ¹⁷O-signal in the stimulated sensorimotor cortex and adjacent brain tissue, indicating that dynamic ¹⁷O-MRI may permit visualization of physiological neuronal activity.

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