Quiz 1- Lecture 3: fMRI Flashcards
What is one use of functional MRI (fMRI)?
To show the difference between a normal brain, a brain with mild cognitive impairment, and a brain with Alzheimer’s disease
Conventional MRI is used extensively for radiological diagnosis and produces…
Spatial maps of the properties of mobile hydrogen nuclei (single protons) that are contained mainly in water molecules
Conventional magnetic resonance images portray…
On what order? What dimensions?
Anatomical details with exquisite resolution
On the order of 1 mm or better; 3 dimensions - and differentiate soft tissues very well
What do the contrast within images (Structural MRI) result from?
Variations mainly in the density of water within tissues and in the manner in which water interacts with macromolecules
What does fMRI rely on? What is it associated with?
Detecting small changes in the signals used to produce magnetic resonance images; neuronal activity in the brain
Advantages of fMRI
Safe, noninvasive, and repeatable in adults and children and this has widespread potential uses
What does fMRI detect?
When do the changes arise?
blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) changes in the MRI signal
Arise when changes in neuronal activity occur following a change in brain stats (exam produced by a stimulus or task)
What happens in order to meet the larger demand for oxygen and other substrates?
An increase in neural activity in a region of cortex stimulates an increase in the local blood flow
What happens to the change in blood flow and why?
Change in blood flow actually exceeds that which is needed so that (at capillary level) there is net increase in the balance of oxygenated arterial blood to deoxygenated venous blood
What happens to the concentration of deoxyhemoglobin within tissues?
How does this have a direct effect?
The concentration of deoxyhemoglobin within tissues decreases
This decrease has a direct effect on the signals used to produce magnetic resonance images
What color is oxygenated blood (when you are cut)?
What color is deoxygenated blood (when you give blood sample and it’s drawn into a tube without oxygen so you can see this color)?
What color does deoxygenated blood appear as it flows through veins (esp people with fair skin)?
Bright red
Deep purple
Deep purple deoxygenated blood appears blue as it flows through our veins
Why is there a color difference of deoxygenated blood in the skin?
Due to the way that different colors of light travel through skin
(Blue light is reflected in the surface layers of the skin whereas red light penetrates more deeply- dark blood in vein absorbs most red light so we see blue light reflected at skin’s surface)
What organisms truly have blue blood and how?
Snails and crabs; They use copper to transport oxygen
(COVID 19 vaccine example: horseshoe crab)
What is the protein that makes blood red?
What is it composed of?
What binds to these iron atoms?
Hemoglobin
Composed of 4 protein chains, 2 alpha chains and 2 beta chains, each with a ring-like heme group containing an iron atom
Oxygen binds reversible to these iron atoms and is transported through blood
What are each of the protein chains similar in structure to?
What is it?
Myoglobin; The protein used to store oxygen in muscles and other tissues
Hemoglobin is…
What does it use?
A remarkable molecular machine
Uses motion and small structural changes to regulate its action