Computational NeuroscienceShort communicationIntrinsic functional brain mapping in reconstructed 4D magnetic susceptibility (χ) data space

- 4D magnetic susceptibility (χ) tomography provides a 4D χ data space.
- A reconstructed χ map represents an intrinsic magnetic state.
- A χ activation map reveals the co-occurrence of bidirectional BOLD responses.
- There are two different approaches to achieve χ-based functional mapping.

BackgroundBy solving an inverse problem of T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for a dynamic fMRI study, we reconstruct a 4D magnetic susceptibility source (χ) data space for intrinsic functional mapping.New methodsA 4D phase dataset is calculated from a 4D complex fMRI dataset. The background field and phase wrapping effect are removed by a Laplacian technique. A 3D χ source map is reconstructed from a 3D phase image by a computed inverse MRI (CIMRI) scheme. A 4D χ data space is reconstructed by repeating the 3D χ source reconstruction for each time point. A functional map is calculated by a temporal correlation between voxel signals in the 4D χ space and the timecourse of the task paradigm.ResultsWith a finger-tapping experiment, we obtain two 3D functional mappings in the 4D magnitude data space and in the reconstructed 4D χ data space. We find that the χ-based functional mapping reveals co-occurrence of bidirectional responses in a 3D activation map that is different from the conventional magnitude-based mapping.Comparison with existing methodsThe χ-based functional mapping can also be achieved by a 3D deconvolution of a phase activation map. Based on a subject experimental comparison, we show that the 4D χ tomography method could produce a similar χ activation map as obtained by the 3D deconvolution method.ConclusionBy removing the dipole effect and other fMRI technological contaminations, 4D χ tomography provides a 4D χ data space that allows a more direct and truthful functional mapping of a brain activity.