High-resolution structural and functional assessments of cerebral microvasculature using 3D Gas ΔR2*-mMRA.

ABSTRACT: The ability to evaluate the cerebral microvascular structure and function is crucial for investigating pathological processes in brain disorders. Previous angiographic methods based on blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) contrast offer appropriate visualization of the cerebral vasculature, but these methods remain to be optimized in order to extract more comprehensive information. This study aimed to integrate the advantages of BOLD MRI in both structural and functional vascular assessments. The BOLD contrast was manipulated by a carbogen challenge, and signal changes in gradient-echo images were computed to generate ΔR2* maps. Simultaneously, a functional index representing the regional cerebral blood volume was derived by normalizing the ΔR2* values of a given region to those of vein-fil

SUBMITTER: Huang CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3817180 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature