Hye Young Heo1, 2, Brian J. Dlouhy3, Daniel R. Thedens1, John Wemmie3, 4, Vincent Magnotta1, 4
1Department of Radiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States; 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States; 3Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States; 4Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
The purpose of this study is to assess the ability of pH sensitive-T1ρ MRI to measure brain function. T1ρ contrast was compared with the BOLD contrast in the visual cortex during activation. In order to validate the specificity of T1ρ to pH changes, a sheep phantom study was performed, resulting in the double dissociation between T1ρ and T2* in acidified and oxygenated blood phantoms. In addition, we found that the release of the lactate by neural activity is consistent with the expected local acidosis.
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