Stability of Alternating BSSFP Signal in the Presence of Driving Perturbations

Giedrius T. Buracas¹, Youngkyoo Jung¹, Eric C. Wong^1,2, Richard B. Buxton¹, Thomas T. Liu¹

It has been proposed recently that MRI can be used to detect currents generated during neuronal activity in the brain. We have demonstrated that an MRI imaging method based on alternating balanced steady states (ABSS) is more sensitive to weak magnetic fields than traditional GRE or SE methods. Herein we have explored the impact of the high neuronal-like variability of the driving signal on the ABSS signal. Our results suggest that the ABSS signal exhibits a high degree of stability and only moderate signal reduction in the presence of strong perturbations akin to those found in cerebral cortical responses.