基于内源信息的脑光学成像系统的研制

基于内源信号的脑光学成像技术是近年出现的研究脑功能的新技术。它因具有高空间分辨率,可连续长时间记录,使用简便,费用较低等特点,成为在视觉,听觉以及其他各种脑功能研究的有力工具。本文介绍了国内第一套脑光学成像系统的和研制,以及用于视觉研究皮层功能方位柱研究的初步结果。     

基于内源信号的脑光学成像系统的研制

基于内源信号的脑光学成像技术（ｏｐｔｉｃａｌ ｉｍａｇｉｎｇ ｂａｓｅｄ ｏｎ ｉｎｔｒｉｎｓｉｃ ｓｉｇｎａｌｓ） 是近年出现的研究脑功能的新技术。它因具有高空间分辨率,可连续长时间记录,使用简便, 费用较低等特点,成为在视觉,听觉以及其他各种脑功能研究的有力工具。本文介绍了国内第一套脑光学成像系统的设计和研制,以及用于视觉研究皮层功能方位柱研究的初步结果。     

视皮层分区及其fMRI 研究进展

血氧水平依赖功能磁共振成像（BOLD—fMRI）作为一种无创、可精确定位的脑功能研究技术,已广泛应用于视觉系统的研究中,并取得了许多重要成果,本文就fMRI研究进展及其在大脑视觉皮层功能分区中的应用做一综述。     

功能磁共振视网膜皮层映射成像在视觉系统研究中的应用

功能磁共振视网膜皮层映射成像能提供关于视觉皮层的丰富信息,是研究生理及病理状态下视觉皮层定位以及功能特性的强有力工具。本文就该成像技术的原理、应用及前景作一综述。     

光学神经成像研究进展

大脑功能的成像检测在认知神经科学领域具有极其重要的意义。现代光子学技术的发展为认知脑成像提供了新的研究手段,在神经系统信息处理机制研究中发挥重要作用。文章介绍了在神经元、神经元网络、特定脑皮层功能构筑以及系统与行为等不同层次开展神经系统信息处理机制研究的各种光学成像技术,包括多光子激发荧光显微成像、内源信号光学成像、激光散斑成像和近红外光学成像等,并评述了这些有特色的光学成像技术在多层次获取和分析神经信息中的研究进展。     

脑科学和脑功能MR成像

目的：在对大脑认知功能进行脑功能成像研究之中,随着磁共振成像技术的发展,人们现在可以对脑的认知功能,如视觉、运动、语言和记忆等功能中枢进行成像。本文首先介绍了脑科学的发展历程,并从脑功能MR成像的方法出发,分析了其成像机理,探讨了用脑功能MR成像为手段对脑科学—认知科学进行的方法研究,最后对脑功能MR成像应用于脑科学的研究作了展望。     

高时空分辨的脑功能光学成像研究进展

脑功能成像技术对深入分析脑的信息加工过程,揭示脑的高级功能至关重要,是目前国际研究热点,已经在神经科学研究和神经系统疾病的临床诊断方面取得了很大的进展.已有脑功能成像技术如:功能磁共振成像(fMRI)、正电子断层成像(PET)、脑电图(EEG)、脑磁图(MEG)等等,虽然已被成功用于脑功能研究,但是目前这些方法也存在着时间或空间分辨率不够的局限.比较而言,光学成像方法表现出其独特魅力.激光散斑衬比成像和内源信号光学成像由于能提供空间取样、时间分辨率及空间分辨率三者的最佳组合和不需加入外源性标记物等特点,与其他脑功能成像技术相比其优势可能更为突出.具有较高的时间和空间分辨率的这两种脑功能光学成像技术及其应用都取得了重大发展,成为研究脑皮层功能构筑和脑病理生理的有力工具.但是目前这两种成像方法也面临着一些挑战.     

基于fMRI的屈光参差性弱视静息视觉网络的研究

利用静息功能磁共振成像技术,对屈光参差性弱视(anisometropic amblyopia)患者静息态视觉网络进行研究,分析此类患者大脑视觉皮层功能受到的影响。采用独立成分分析(independent component analysis, ICA)这一数据驱动方法对8名屈光参差性弱视患者和11名正常对照的静息数据进行分离,并采用拟合度值(goodness-of-fit scores)分析挑选出静息视觉网络,将结果进行组内分析和组间分析。结果表明,屈光参差性弱视的静息视觉网络中,多级视觉皮层均发生了明显的功能损害,其功能连接度的范围与强度显著低于正常组,而且,高级别纹外皮层比低级别纹状皮层损害更加明显。静息fMRI为深入研究弱视初、高级视觉皮层功能损害的发病机制提供了新的方法。     

编者按: 脑成像与脑网络

揭示脑的奥秘是人类面临的最大挑战之一。神经元是构成神经系统结构与功能的基本单位。神经元与神经元之间通过突触实现信息交互,并构成神经环路或神经网络。神经环路有局部的,也有跨脑区或长程的,甚至全脑尺度的。神经环路则是脑实现神经信息处理的基本单元。若干神经环路构成脑网络。脑网络研究已经成为脑功能与脑疾病研究领域的热点。 在国家自然科学基金委员会和科技部“973计划”等项目的支持下,我国科学家在这一领域已经开展了卓有成效的工作。2011年第393次香山科学会议“脑网络组及其临床应用的前沿科学问题”曾对此进行过比较深入的研讨。为促进对该领域现状及发展的了解,本期汇集了2篇述评和2篇研究论文,作为脑成像与脑网络专题发表,以飨读者。 利用9.4T功能磁共振成像(fMRI)获得轻度麻醉状态下大鼠静息状态及刺激激活的数据,通过互相关分析构建节点之间的相关系数矩阵并计算相应的网络参数,赖永秀等人报道了大鼠感觉运动系统静息态脑网络的研究成果,发现感觉运动系统在静息态时的脑网络具有小世界属性。 扩散磁共振成像(dMRI)的出现为大脑结构与功能研究提供了全新的检测手段,雷皓等报道了小动物高分辨扩散磁共振成像数据分析方法,为小动物脑dMRI研究提供了统一图像模板与完善的计算方法,对于检测神经纤维微观结构的变化,以及临床诊断,将具有极其重要的意义。 神经环路功能变化的实时在体监测是研究脑网络不可或缺的手段,曾绍群等评述了基于声光偏转器的快速无惯性随机扫描双光子显微成像技术的研究进展及发展趋势,指出该技术的进一步发展将为神经活动观测提供一种全新的方法,从而极大地推动脑科学研究的发展。 针对哺乳动物全脑的神经元网络成像,龚辉等从空间分辨率、探测范围、数据配准和成像速度等方面评述了光学显微水平全脑成像方法的研究进展,并讨论所面临的挑战。他们指出,要在全脑尺度获取突起水平分辨率的结构与功能数据,光学成像方法最为成熟。华中科技大学研制的MOST系统,率先获得了一系列高分辨率的完整大脑解剖数据集,该成果将在神经元网络的构建和脑功能与疾病研究中发挥重要作用。 我们期待更多、更好的有关脑成像与脑网络的论文发表,以更广泛和深入地促进我国脑科学研究领域的学术交流。     

视皮层功能特化研究的进展

近20年来,对脑视觉功能的研究,清楚地表现在对猫和猴纹皮层细胞各种感受野、向柱(orientation column)、眼优势柱(ocular dominance column)以及视觉系统的发育研究。Hubel 和Wiesel 为此曾获1981年度诺贝尔奖金。与此同时,对视皮层的区域特化及功能特化的研究,也日益引人注目。     

Transcranial flavoprotein fluorescence imaging of mouse cortical activity and plasticity

Endogenous fluorescence signals derived from mitochondria reflect activity-dependent changes in brain metabolism and may be exploited in functional brain imaging. Endogenous flavoprotein fluorescence imaging in mice is especially important because many genetically manipulated strains of mice are available and the transparent skull of mice allows transcranial fluorescence imaging of cortical activities. In the primary sensory areas of mice, cortical activities and experience-dependent plasticity have been investigated using transcranial fluorescence imaging. Furthermore, differential imaging, based on stimulus specificity of cortical areas, distinguished activities in higher visual areas around the primary visual cortex from those in primary visual cortex. The combination of transcranial fluorescence imaging with the suppression of cortical activities using photobleaching of flavoproteins is expected to aid in elucidating the roles of sensory cortices including higher areas in mice.     

Imaging odor-evoked activities in the mouse olfactory bulb using optical reflectance and autofluorescence signals

In the brain, sensory stimulation activates distributed populations of neurons among functional modules which participate to the coding of the stimulus. Functional optical imaging techniques are advantageous to visualize the activation of these modules in sensory cortices with high spatial resolution. In this context, endogenous optical signals that arise from molecular mechanisms linked to neuroenergetics are valuable sources of contrast to record spatial maps of sensory stimuli over wide fields in the rodent brain. Here, we present two techniques based on changes of endogenous optical properties of the brain tissue during activation. First the intrinsic optical signals (IOS) are produced by a local alteration in red light reflectance due to: (i) absorption by changes in blood oxygenation level and blood volume (ii) photon scattering. The use of in vivo IOS to record spatial maps started in the mid 1980's with the observation of optical maps of whisker barrels in the rat and the orientation columns in the cat visual cortex(1). IOS imaging of the surface of the rodent main olfactory bulb (OB) in response to odorants was later demonstrated by Larry Katz's group(2). The second approach relies on flavoprotein autofluorescence signals (FAS) due to changes in the redox state of these mitochondrial metabolic intermediates. More precisely, the technique is based on the green fluorescence due to oxidized state of flavoproteins when the tissue is excited with blue light. Although such signals were probably among the first fluorescent molecules recorded for the study of brain activity by the pioneer studies of Britton Chances and colleagues(3), it was not until recently that they have been used for mapping of brain activation in vivo. FAS imaging was first applied to the somatosensory cortex in rodents in response to hindpaw stimulation by Katsuei Shibuki's group(4). The olfactory system is of central importance for the survival of the vast majority of living species because it allows efficient detection and identification of chemical substances in the environment (food, predators). The OB is the first relay of olfactory information processing in the brain. It receives afferent projections from the olfactory primary sensory neurons that detect volatile odorant molecules. Each sensory neuron expresses only one type of odorant receptor and neurons carrying the same type of receptor send their nerve processes to the same well-defined microregions of ?100μm(3) constituted of discrete neuropil, the olfactory glomerulus (Fig. 1). In the last decade, IOS imaging has fostered the functional exploration of the OB(5, 6, 7) which has become one of the most studied sensory structures. The mapping of OB activity with FAS imaging has not been performed yet. Here, we show the successive steps of an efficient protocol for IOS and FAS imaging to map odor-evoked activities in the mouse OB.     

Reconstructing visual experiences from brain activity evoked by natural movies

Quantitative modeling of human brain activity can provide crucial insights about cortical representations [1, 2] and can form the basis for brain decoding devices [3-5]. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have modeled brain activity elicited by static visual patterns and have reconstructed these patterns from brain activity [6-8]. However, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals measured via fMRI are very slow [9], so it has been difficult to model brain activity elicited by dynamic stimuli such as natural movies. Here we present a new motion-energy [10, 11] encoding model that largely overcomes this limitation. The model describes fast visual information and slow hemodynamics by separate components. We recorded BOLD signals in occipitotemporal visual cortex of human subjects who watched natural movies and fit the model separately to individual voxels. Visualization of the fit models reveals how early visual areas represent the information in movies. To demonstrate the power of our approach, we also constructed a Bayesian decoder [8] by combining estimated encoding models with a sampled natural movie prior. The decoder provides remarkable reconstructions of the viewed movies. These results demonstrate that dynamic brain activity measured under naturalistic conditions can be decoded using current fMRI technology.     

Prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific activity in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex

The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our expectations. In line with this, much recent research has revealed that prior expectations strongly modulate sensory processing. However, the neural circuitry through which the brain integrates external sensory inputs with internal expectation signals remains unknown. In order to understand the computational architecture of the cortex, we need to investigate the way these signals flow through the cortical layers. This is crucial because the different cortical layers have distinct intra- and interregional connectivity patterns, and therefore determining which layers are involved in a cortical computation can inform us on the sources and targets of these signals. Here, we used ultra-high field (7T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal that prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific activity selectively in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex (V1). These findings are in line with predictive processing theories proposing that neurons in the deep cortical layers represent perceptual hypotheses and thereby shed light on the computational architecture of cortex.

The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our expectations, but the neural circuitry through which the brain achieves this remains unknown. A study using ultra-high field fMRI reveals that prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific signals in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex.     

Electrical Neuroimaging Reveals Timing of Attentional Control Activity in Human Brain

Voluntarily shifting attention to a location of the visual field improves the perception of events that occur there. Regions of frontal cortex are thought to provide the top-down control signal that initiates a shift of attention, but because of the temporal limitations of functional brain imaging, the timing and sequence of attentional-control operations remain unknown. We used a new analytical technique (beamformer spatial filtering) to reconstruct the anatomical sources of low-frequency brain waves in humans associated with attentional control across time. Following a signal to shift attention, control activity was seen in parietal cortex 100–200 ms before activity was seen in frontal cortex. Parietal cortex was then reactivated prior to anticipatory biasing of activity in occipital cortex. The magnitudes of early parietal activations were strongly predictive of the degree of attentional improvement in perceptual performance. These results show that parietal cortex, not frontal cortex, provides the initial signals to shift attention and indicate that top-down attentional control is not purely top down.     

Linking visual perception with human brain activity.

The past year has seen great advances in the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the functional organization of the human visual cortex, to measure the neuronal correlates of visual perception, and to test computational theories of vision. Activity in particular visual brain areas, as measured with fMRI, has been found to correlate with psychophysical performance, with visual attention, and with subjective perceptual experience.     

Modulation of visual processing by attention and emotion: windows on causal interactions between human brain regions

Visual processing is not determined solely by retinal inputs. Attentional modulation can arise when the internal attentional state (current task) of the observer alters visual processing of the same stimuli. This can influence visual cortex, boosting neural responses to an attended stimulus. Emotional modulation can also arise, when affective properties (emotional significance) of stimuli, rather than their strictly visual properties, influence processing. This too can boost responses in visual cortex, as for fear-associated stimuli. Both attentional and emotional modulation of visual processing may reflect distant influences upon visual cortex, exerted by brain structures outside the visual system per se. Hence, these modulations may provide windows onto causal interactions between distant but interconnected brain regions. We review recent evidence, noting both similarities and differences between attentional and emotional modulation. Both can affect visual cortex, but can reflect influences from different regions, such as fronto-parietal circuits versus the amygdala. Recent work on this has developed new approaches for studying causal influences between human brain regions that may be useful in other cognitive domains. The new methods include application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) measures in brain-damaged patients to study distant functional impacts of their focal lesions, and use of transcranial magnetic stimulation concurrently with fMRI or EEG in the normal brain. Cognitive neuroscience is now moving beyond considering the putative functions of particular brain regions, as if each operated in isolation, to consider, instead, how distinct brain regions (such as visual cortex, parietal or frontal regions, or amygdala) may mutually influence each other in a causal manner.     

Direct evidence for encoding of motion streaks in human visual cortex

Temporal integration in the visual system causes fast-moving objects to generate static, oriented traces (‘motion streaks’), which could be used to help judge direction of motion. While human psychophysics and single-unit studies in non-human primates are consistent with this hypothesis, direct neural evidence from the human cortex is still lacking. First, we provide psychophysical evidence that faster and slower motions are processed by distinct neural mechanisms: faster motion raised human perceptual thresholds for static orientations parallel to the direction of motion, whereas slower motion raised thresholds for orthogonal orientations. We then used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity while human observers viewed either fast (‘streaky’) or slow random dot stimuli moving in different directions, or corresponding static-oriented stimuli. We found that local spatial patterns of brain activity in early retinotopic visual cortex reliably distinguished between static orientations. Critically, a multivariate pattern classifier trained on brain activity evoked by these static stimuli could then successfully distinguish the direction of fast (‘streaky’) but not slow motion. Thus, signals encoding static-oriented streak information are present in human early visual cortex when viewing fast motion. These experiments show that motion streaks are present in the human visual system for faster motion.