Cerebral blood volume sensitive layer-fMRI in the human auditory cortex at 7 Tesla: Challenges and capabilities

Faes, Lonike; Martino, Federico De; Huber, Laurentius

doi:10.1101/2022.08.02.502460

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Due to the reduced susceptibility artifacts at 3T, we believe that developments shown in this study will help facilitate more straightforward applications of layer-fMRI in susceptibility-challenged brain areas. Protocols that are limited by physiological noise: 7T layer-fMRI VASO can be limited by MR-phase inconsistencies that are dynamically modulated during the multi-shot 3D-EPI readout. Such artifacts of layerfMRI VASO have been reported in areas that are particularly challenged by proximal macrovessels and substantial physiological noise like in the primary audi-tory cortex (Faes et al 2022). Furthermore, Such artifacts have prohibited the neuroscientific usability of some whole brain layer-fMRI VASO studies with readout durations that are longer than the respiration cycle (Mueller et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the capabilities and challenges of layer-fMRI VASO at 3T

Huber

Kronbichler

Stirnberg

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Sub-millimeter functional imaging has the potential to capture cortical layer-specific functional information flow within and across brain systems. Recent sequence advancements of fMRI signal readout and contrast generations resulted in wide adaptation of layer-fMRI protocols across the global ultra high-field (UHF) neuroimaging community. However, most layer-fMRI applications are confined to one of ≈100 privileged UHF imaging centers, and sequence contrasts with unwanted sensitivity to large draining veins. In this work, we propose the application of vein-signal free vascular space occupancy (VASO) sequences at widely accessible 3T scanners. Specifically, we implement, characterize, and apply a cerebral blood volume (CBV)-sensitive VASO fMRI at a 3T scanner setup, as it is typically used in the majority of cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuroscience fMRI studies. We find that the longer T2*, and stronger relative T1 contrast at 3T can account for some of the lower z-magnetization in the inversion-recovery VASO sequence compared to 7T and 9.4T. In the main series of experiments (N=16), we test the utility of this setup for motor tasks and find that -while being limited by thermal noise- 3T layer-fMRI VASO is feasible within conventional scan durations. In a series of auxiliary studies, we furthermore explore the generalizability of the developed protocols for a larger range of study designs including: visual stimulation, whole brain movie watching paradigms, and cognitive tasks with weaker effect sizes. We hope that the developed imaging protocols will help to increase accessibility of vein-free layer-fMRI imaging tools to a wider community of neuroimaging centers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the capabilities and challenges of layer-fMRI VASO at 3T

Huber

Kronbichler

Stirnberg

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…• Protocols that are limited by physiological noise: 7T layer-fMRI VASO can be limited by MR-phase inconsistencies that are dynamically modulated during the multi-shot 3D-EPI readout. Such artifacts of layer-fMRI VASO have been reported in areas that are particularly challenged by proximal macrovessels and substantial physiological noise like in the primary auditory cortex (61). Furthermore, such artifacts have prohibited the neuroscientific usability of some whole-brain layer-fM-RI VASO studies with readout durations that are longer than the respiration cycle (62).…”

Section: O R I G I N a L R E S E A R C H A R T I C L Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the capabilities and challenges of layer-fMRI VASO at 3T

Huber,

Kronbichler,

Stirnberg

et al. 2023

Aperture Neuro

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Sub-millimeter functional imaging has the potential to capture cortical layer–specific functional information flow within and across brain systems. Recent sequence advancements of fMRI signal readout and contrast generations resulted in wide adaptation of layer-fMRI protocols across the global ultra-high-field (UHF) neuroimaging community. However, most layer-fMRI applications are confined to one of ~100 privileged UHF imaging centers, and sequence contrasts with unwanted sensitivity to large draining veins. In this work, we propose the application of vein-signal free vascular space occupancy (VASO) layer-fMRI sequences at widely accessible 3T scanners. Specifically, we implement, characterize, and apply a cerebral blood volume (CBV)-sensitive VASO fMRI at a 3T scanner setup, as it is typically used in the majority of cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuroscience fMRI studies. We find that the longer T2*, and stronger relative T1 contrast at 3T can account for some of the lower z-magnetization in the inversion-recovery VASO sequence compared with 7T and 9.4T. In the main series of experiments (N=16), we test the utility of this setup for motor tasks and find that—while being limited by thermal noise—3T layer-fMRI VASO is feasible within conventional scan durations. In a series of auxiliary studies, we furthermore explore the generalizability of the developed layer-fMRI protocols for a larger range of study designs including as follows: visual stimulation, whole-brain movie-watching paradigms, and cognitive tasks with weaker effect sizes. We hope that the developed imaging protocols will help to increase accessibility of vein-signal free layer-fMRI imaging tools to a wider community of neuroimaging centers.

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Evaluating the effect of denoising submillimeter auditory fMRI data with NORDIC

Faes,

Lage-Castellanos,

Valente

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has emerged as an essential tool for exploring human brain function. Submillimeter fMRI, in particular, has emerged as a tool to study mesoscopic computations. The inherently low signal to noise ratio (SNR) at submillimeter resolutions warrants the use of denoising approaches tailored at reducing thermal noise; the dominant contributing noise component in high resolution fMRI. NORDIC PCA is one of such approaches, and has been benchmarked against other approaches in several applications. Here, we investigate the effects that two versions of NORDIC denoising have on auditory submillimeter data. As investigating auditory functional responses poses unique challenges, we anticipated that the benefit of this technique would be especially pronounced. Our results show that NORDIC denoising improves the detection sensitivity and the reliability of estimates in submillimeter auditory fMRI data. These effects can be explained by the reduction of the noise-induced signal variability. However, we also observed a reduction in the average response amplitude (percent signal), which may suggest that a small amount of signal was also removed. We conclude that, while evaluating the effects of the signal reduction induced by NORDIC may be necessary for each application, using NORDIC in high resolution auditory fMRI studies may be advantageous because of the large reduction in variability of the estimated responses.

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Cerebral blood volume sensitive layer-fMRI in the human auditory cortex at 7 Tesla: Challenges and capabilities

Cited by 3 publications

References 91 publications

Evaluating the capabilities and challenges of layer-fMRI VASO at 3T

Evaluating the capabilities and challenges of layer-fMRI VASO at 3T

Evaluating the capabilities and challenges of layer-fMRI VASO at 3T

Evaluating the effect of denoising submillimeter auditory fMRI data with NORDIC

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