Researchers are finding ways to improve one of neuroscientists’ favourite tools: functional magnetic resonance imaging.
— has faced scepticism. Researchers have questioned whether diffusion fMRI is identifying the morphological changes that occur with neuronal firing, or if it is simply picking up on changes in blood flow.
Still, the technique has yet to be adopted widely. For one thing, diffusion fMRI produces a weaker signal than BOLD-based imaging does. It also requires scientists to learn how to use new software. More to the point, researchers have yet to be convinced of the utility of diffusion fMRI, says Keilholz. Demonstrating that this technique produces different results to BOLD in patients with diseases such as Alzheimer’s could drive adoption, she says.
There is also the question of what the researchers are detecting with DIANA. Park and his colleagues suggest that they are picking up on changes to the water molecules on the surface of neurons. Park says that changes in the membrane ‘potential’ — the concentration of charged ions on either side of the cellular membrane — alter the hydration on the cell surface. An MRI scanner, which senses changes in water molecules, might be able to detect that difference.
Park says he and his team are now working to optimize data acquisition and analysis — and to implement DIANA fMRI in humans. “That’s the highest priority,” he says.In the meantime, researchers have also devised ways to improve fMRI without abandoning neurovascular coupling.
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