Abstract #2827

Xue Y, Xiong J

Whether MRI can be used for direct detection of neuronal activity is a matter of debate. We present here an improved current-dipole model to compute neuronal magnetic field (NMF) generated by neural firing and to calculate MRI signal changes resulting from the NMF. Each dendrite was modeled as a modified current-dipole and interactions between diploes were considered. Our results show that NMF can potentially generate a few percent changes in MRI magnitude signals. Phases of MRI signal tend to be destructively added and are insensitive to NMF in the activated region. Our modeling implies that direct MRI detection of neuronal activity is possible