Besides being responsible for olfaction and air intake, the nose contains abundant vasculature and autonomic nervous system innervations, and it is a cerebrospinal fluid clearance site. Therefore, the nose is an attractive target for functional MRI (fMRI). Yet, nose fMRI has not been possible so far due to signal losses originating from nasal air-tissue interfaces. Here, we demonstrated feasibility of nose fMRI by using novel ultrashort/zero echo time (TE) MRI. Results obtained in the resting-state from 13 healthy participants at 7T and in 5 awake mice at 9.4T revealed a highly reproducible resting-state nose functional network that likely reflects autonomic nervous system activity. Another network observed in humans involves the nose, major brain vessels and CSF spaces, presenting a temporal dynamic that correlates with heart rate and breathing rate. These resting-state nose functional signals should help elucidate peripheral and central nervous system integrations.

• MeSH
• Autonomic Nervous System physiology   diagnostic imaging   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging * methods   MeSH
• Brain Mapping methods   MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Brain physiology   diagnostic imaging   MeSH
• Mice MeSH
• Nose * physiology   diagnostic imaging   MeSH
• Rest physiology   MeSH
• Heart Rate physiology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Mice MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

The recently introduced orientation selective deep brain stimulation (OS-DBS) technique freely controls the direction of the electric field's spatial gradient by using multiple contacts with independent current sources within a multielectrode array. The goal of OS-DBS is to align the electrical field along the axonal track of interest passing through the stimulation site. Here we utilized OS-DBS with a planar 3-channel electrode for stimulating the rat entorhinal cortex (EC) and medial septal nucleus (MSN), two promising areas for DBS treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The brain responses to OS-DBS were monitored by whole brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 9.4 T with Multi-Band Sweep Imaging with Fourier Transformation (MB-SWIFT). Varying the in-plane OS-DBS stimulation angle in the EC resulted in activity modulation of multiple downstream brain areas involved in memory and cognition. Contrary to that, no angle dependence of brain activations was observed when stimulating the MSN, consistent with predictions based on the electrode configuration and on the main axonal directions of the targets derived from diffusion MRI tractography and histology. We conclude that tuning the OS-DBS stimulation angle modulates the activation of brain areas relevant to Alzheimer's disease, thus holding great promise in the DBS treatment of the disease.

• MeSH
• Alzheimer Disease * diagnostic imaging   therapy   MeSH
• Entorhinal Cortex diagnostic imaging   physiology   MeSH
• Deep Brain Stimulation * methods   MeSH
• Cognition MeSH
• Rats MeSH
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods   MeSH
• Brain MeSH
• Septal Nuclei * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Rats MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH

Epidural spinal cord stimulation (ESCS) is widely used for chronic pain treatment, and is also a promising tool for restoring motor function after spinal cord injury. Despite significant positive impact of ESCS, currently available protocols provide limited specificity and efficiency partially due to the limited number of contacts of the leads and to the limited flexibility to vary the spatial distribution of the stimulation field in respect to the spinal cord. Recently, we introduced Orientation Selective (OS) stimulation strategies for deep brain stimulation, and demonstrated their selectivity in rats using functional MRI (fMRI). The method achieves orientation selectivity by controlling the main direction of the electric field gradients using individually driven channels. Here, we introduced a similar OS approach for ESCS, and demonstrated orientation dependent brain activations as detected by brain fMRI. The fMRI activation patterns during spinal cord stimulation demonstrated the complexity of brain networks stimulated by OS-ESCS paradigms, involving brain areas responsible for the transmission of the motor and sensory information. The OS approach may allow targeting ESCS to spinal fibers of different orientations, ultimately making stimulation less dependent on the precision of the electrode implantation.

• MeSH
• Epidural Space diagnostic imaging   physiopathology   MeSH
• Electrodes, Implanted MeSH
• Rats MeSH
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging * MeSH
• Spinal Cord Stimulation * MeSH
• Spinal Cord Injuries * diagnostic imaging   physiopathology   therapy   MeSH
• Rats, Sprague-Dawley MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Rats MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH