Abstract
Manganese ion (Mn2+) is a calcium (Ca2+) analog that can enter neurons and other excitable cells through voltage gated Ca2+ channels. Mn2+ is also a paramagnetic that shortens the spin-lattice relaxation time constant (T1) of tissues where it has accumulated, resulting in positive contrast enhancement. Mn2+ was first investigated as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent approximately 20 years ago to assess the toxicity of the metal in rats. In the late 1990s, Alan Koretsky and colleagues pioneered the use of manganese enhanced MRI (MEMRI) towards studying brain activity, tract tracing and enhancing anatomical detail. This review will describe the methodologies and applications of MEMRI in the following areas: monitoring brain activity in animal models, in vivo neuronal tract tracing and using MEMRI to assess in vivo axonal transport rates.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Integrating PET with behavioral neuroscience using RatCAP tomography
- Motion-tracking technique in unrestrained small-animal single-photon emission computed tomography
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Articles in the same Issue
- Guest Editorial
- The emerging discipline of behavioral neuroimaging
- Special Issue: Behavioral Neuroimaging
- Cognition in action: imaging brain/body dynamics in mobile humans
- Neuroimaging for drug addiction and related behaviors
- Pharmacological challenge and synaptic response – assessing dopaminergic function in the rat striatum with small animal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET)
- Integrating PET with behavioral neuroscience using RatCAP tomography
- Motion-tracking technique in unrestrained small-animal single-photon emission computed tomography
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake animals
- Manganese enhanced MRI (MEMRI): neurophysiological applications
- Optical detection of brain function: simultaneous imaging of cerebral vascular response, tissue metabolism, and cellular activity in vivo