Abstract #0409

Zhu X, Zhang N, Zhang X, Chen W, Ugurbil K, Strupp J, Zhang Y

It is important to develop an MR approach for noninvasively imaging the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) which plays an essential role in brain function at both physiological and pathological states. We have conducted a preliminary study to examine the feasibility of using in vivo 17O MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) for directly obtaining 3D CMRO2 images in the human visual cortex (V1) at 7T during a 2-3 minute inhalation of 17O2. Our preliminary results indicate an excellent 17O SNR for detecting the accumulation rate of the H217O in brain tissue being metabolized from the inhalated 17O2. A significant increase of CMRO2 upon stimulation was observed in our initial study.