Eric Raymond Muir1,2, Sung-Hong Park3,
Timothy Q. Duong2
1Biomedical Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States; 2Research
Imaging Institute, Ophthalmology/Radiology, UT Health Science Center San
Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States; 3Research Imaging
Institute, Radiology, UT Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX,
United States
BOLD
fMRI of the thin retina with the widely used EPI acquisition is challenging
because the eye is a region of large magnetic inhomogeneity and
high-resolution EPI is pushing the limits of gradient performance, resulting
in susceptibility-induced signal drop out and image distortion. To overcome
these limitations, we implemented a pass-band balanced steady state free
precession (bSSFP) sequence for fMRI of the mouse retina at 45x45x500 m.
bSSFP has comparable temporal resolution and SNR per unit time as EPI,
without the artifacts common in EPI. bSSFP fMRI could reliably detect
layer-specific responses to hypoxic challenge in the mouse retina.