Abstract #4182

Detection of Neural Activity Using Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography

Rosalind J. Sadleir¹,², Corey A. Falgas³,⁴, Samuel C. Grant³,⁴, Eung Je Woo²

¹J. Crayton Pruitt Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States; ²Biomedical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, Korea; ³Dept. of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States; ⁴The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, FL, United States

We hypothesized, and have found, MR phase contrasts arising from spike rate changes in a neural tissue phantom. The method used is a variation on Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography, and the contrast was related to changes in membrane conductance. The signal magnitude was compared with models and an independent gold standard and found to be consistent with these results. We believe that this contrast could provide a robust and direct method of imaging brain function.