[ad_1]
Category: Health published by Shameen published: February 23, 2019, 2:21 pm EST Update: February 23, 2019, 2:21 pm EST
New York: Researchers at the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to visualize the activity of calcium deep within the brain.
Calcium is an essential signaling molecule for most cells, especially for neurons.
By using the non-invasive technique, researchers can track the signaling processes in living animal neurons, allowing them to link neuronal activity to specific behaviors.
However, current imaging techniques can only penetrate a few millimeters into the brain.
"The study describes the first detection by MRI of intracellular calcium signaling, directly badogous to the powerful optical approaches widely used in neuroscience, but which now allows such in vivo measurements in deep tissue," said Alan Jasanoff, professor at MIT.
The new MRI sensor, described in Nature Communications, can measure extracellular calcium levels.
The team tested its sensor in the rat by injecting it into the striatum, a region of the brain involved in motion planning and learning new behaviors.
They then used potbadium ions to stimulate electrical activity in the striatal neurons and were able to measure the calcium response of these cells.
The researchers hope to use this technique to identify small clusters of neurons involved in specific behaviors or actions.
As this method directly measures the signaling within cells, it can provide much more precise information on the localization and synchronization of neuron activity than traditional functional MRI (fMRI), which measures the flow blood in the brain.
"This could be useful for understanding how different brain structures work together to treat stimuli or coordinate behavior," said Jasanoff.
In addition, this technique could be used to image calcium as it fulfills many other roles, such as facilitating the activation of immune cells.
With additional modifications, it could also be used someday to perform diagnostic imaging of the brain or other organs whose functions depend on calcium, such as the heart, said Jasanoff.
Source: IANS
Source link
