Intrinsic signal changes accompanying sensory stimulation: Functional brain mapping with magnetic resonance imaging

Seiji Ogawa, David W. Tank, Ravi Menon, Jutta M. Ellermann, Seong Gi Kim, Hellmut Merkle, Kamil Ugurbil

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2996 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report that visual stimulation produces an easily detectable (5-20%) transient increase in the intensity of water proton magnetic resonance signals in human primary visual cortex in gradient echo images at 4-T magnetic-field strength. The observed changes predominantly occur in areas containing gray matter and can be used to produce high-spatial-resolution functional brain maps in humans. Reducing the image-acquisition echo time from 40 msec to 8 msec reduces the amplitude of the fractional signal change, suggesting that it is produced by a change in apparent transverse relaxation time T*2. The amplitude, sign, and echo-time dependence of these intrinsic signal changes are consistent with the idea that neural activation increases regional cerebral blood flow and concomitantly increases venous-blood oxygenation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5951-5955
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume89
Issue number13
StatePublished - Jul 1 1992

Keywords

  • blood oxygenation
  • cerebral blood flow
  • magnetic susceptibility
  • positron emission tomography
  • visual cortex

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