Functional Brain Imaging Using Non-Invasive Non-Ionizing Methods: Towards Multimodal and Multiscale Imaging

نویسنده

  • Irene Karanasiou
چکیده

Current and future trends in functional neuroimaging focus on the combination and synchronous application of imaging modalities by integrating more than one measures of brain function, e.g., hemodynamic and electrophysiological (EEG and fMRI). These multimodal approaches aim at achieving sufficient temporal and spatial resolution in order to localize neural activity and identify the functional connectivity between different brain regions, hypothesizing that the multi-modal information represents the same neural networks (Laufs et al., 2008). In parallel, besides the impressive recent advancements in neuroimaging research, arguably even more outstanding advances have been reported in molecular medicine and genetics research. In this context, current and future trends in medical research aim at bridging biomolecular information and neural function through studies in anatomic and functional biomedical imaging, focusing on methods to discover novel markers influencing specific traits in psychiatric and neurological diseases. The new field of imaging genetics uses neuroimaging methods to assess the impact of genetic variance on the human brain. Ideally, several imaging methods are implemented in combination to achieve an optimal characterization of structural and functional parameters. The latter are statistically related to the genotype, resulting in a form of a genetic association study. Such procedures acting as a mediator between genetic polymorphisms and psychiatric disease risk may shed light on the relevant underlying neural processes (Hariri et al. 2006). Although this approach is still relatively novel, the emerging literature and initial results hold great promise that it may contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of complex psychiatric and neurological disorders. Importantly, the future trends in neuroimaging envision imaging of the chemical functions of the organ cells and even realtime images of the genes and proteins at work within cells. These will convey sophisticated fingerprints of disease processes and better assessment of the effectiveness of curative procedures. Overall, it is evident that profiling of the molecular changes in disease will also expand the scope of body imaging. In this scientific and technological milieu, the widely-acknowledged “THz gap” makes this region of the electromagnetic spectrum a scientific frontier, with critical questions in physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine that need answers. All molecules (biological,

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تاریخ انتشار 2012