Abstract #0418

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Neuronal Currents in an in Vitro Turtle Cerebellum

Padmavathi Sundaram¹, William Wells², Darren B. Orbach¹, Daniel Orringer³, Mukund Balasubramanian¹, Robert Mulkern¹, Yoshio Okada⁴

¹Radiology, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; ²Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; ³Neurosurgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; ⁴Neurology, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

This work investigates the relationship between neuronal currents and MR signals in an in vitro bloodless turtle cerebellum (Cb). While prior work has demonstrated sensitivity of MR signals to currents, the spatiotemporal relationship between MR phase and neuronal currents remains to be characterized in brain tissue. We use the turtle Cb because: (1) there are no signal contributions from blood, respiration or motion, (2) the cellular circuit is intact, (3) the preparation can withstand anoxia and is physiologically functional for several hours, and (4) it is a flat tissue with the principal neurons oriented parallel to each other.