Department of Radiology, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 1;14(1):26352. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-77615-z.
Besides being responsible for olfaction and air intake, the nose contains abundant vasculature and autonomic nervous system innervations, and it is a cerebrospinal fluid clearance site. Therefore, the nose is an attractive target for functional MRI (fMRI). Yet, nose fMRI has not been possible so far due to signal losses originating from nasal air-tissue interfaces. Here, we demonstrated feasibility of nose fMRI by using novel ultrashort/zero echo time (TE) MRI. Results obtained in the resting-state from 13 healthy participants at 7T and in 5 awake mice at 9.4T revealed a highly reproducible resting-state nose functional network that likely reflects autonomic nervous system activity. Another network observed in humans involves the nose, major brain vessels and CSF spaces, presenting a temporal dynamic that correlates with heart rate and breathing rate. These resting-state nose functional signals should help elucidate peripheral and central nervous system integrations.
除了负责嗅觉和空气吸入，鼻子还包含丰富的血管和自主神经系统神经支配，并且是脑脊液清除部位。因此，鼻子是功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的一个有吸引力的目标。然而，由于源自鼻组织界面的信号损失，迄今为止还不可能进行鼻 fMRI。在这里，我们通过使用新型超短/零回波时间（TE）MRI 证明了鼻 fMRI 的可行性。在 7T 下对 13 名健康参与者和在 9.4T 下对 5 只清醒小鼠进行的静息状态研究结果显示，一个高度可重复的静息状态鼻功能网络，可能反映自主神经系统活动。在人类中观察到的另一个网络涉及鼻子、主要的大脑血管和 CSF 空间，呈现出与心率和呼吸率相关的时间动态。这些静息状态鼻功能信号应该有助于阐明外周和中枢神经系统的整合。
