Aiello Marco, Cavaliere Carlo, Salvatore Marco
IRCCS SDN, Istituto Ricerca Diagnostica Nucleare Naples, Italy.
Front Neurosci. 2016 Mar 1;10:64. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00064. eCollection 2016.
In recent years, brain connectivity is gaining ever-increasing interest from the interdisciplinary research community. The study of brain connectivity is characterized by a multifaceted approach providing both structural and functional evidence of the relationship between cerebral regions at different scales. Although magnetic resonance (MR) is the most established imaging modality for investigating connectivity in vivo, the recent advent of hybrid positron emission tomography (PET)/MR scanners paved the way for more comprehensive investigation of brain organization and physiology. Due to the high sensitivity and biochemical specificity of radiotracers, combining MR with PET imaging may enrich our ability to investigate connectivity by introducing the concept of metabolic connectivity and cometomics and promoting new insights on the physiological and molecular bases underlying high-level neural organization. This review aims to describe and summarize the main methods of analysis of brain connectivity employed in MR imaging and nuclear medicine. Moreover, it will discuss practical aspects and state-of-the-art techniques for exploiting hybrid PET/MR imaging to investigate the relationship of physiological processes and brain connectivity.
近年来，脑连接性越来越受到跨学科研究界的关注。脑连接性研究的特点是采用多方面的方法，提供不同尺度上脑区之间关系的结构和功能证据。尽管磁共振（MR）是研究体内连接性最成熟的成像方式，但最近混合正电子发射断层扫描（PET）/MR扫描仪的出现为更全面地研究脑组织和生理学铺平了道路。由于放射性示踪剂具有高灵敏度和生化特异性，将MR与PET成像相结合，通过引入代谢连接性和彗星组学的概念，并促进对高级神经组织潜在的生理和分子基础的新见解，可能会丰富我们研究连接性的能力。本综述旨在描述和总结MR成像和核医学中用于分析脑连接性的主要方法。此外，还将讨论利用混合PET/MR成像研究生理过程与脑连接性之间关系的实际问题和最新技术。
