Title
Cardiac and respiration-induced brain deformations in humans quantified with high-field MRI.
Abstract
Microvascular blood volume pulsations due to the cardiac and respiratory cycles induce brain tissue deformation and, as such, are considered to drive the brain’s waste clearance system. We have developed a high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to quantify both cardiac and respiration-induced tissue deformations, which could not be assessed noninvasively before. The technique acquires motion encoded snapshot images in which various forms of motion and confounders are entangled. First, we optimized the motion sensitivity for application in the human brain. Next, we isolated the heartbeat and respiration-related deformations, by introducing a linear model that fits the snapshot series to the recorded physiological information. As a result, we obtained maps of the physiological tissue deformation with 3mm isotropic spatial resolution. Heartbeat and respiration-induced volumetric strain were significantly different from zero in the basal ganglia (median (25–75% interquartile range): 0.85·10−3 (0.39·10−3–1.05·10−3), p ​= ​0.0008 and −0.28·10−3 (−0.41·10−3–0.06·10−3), p ​= ​0.047, respectively. Smaller volumetric strains were observed in the white matter of the centrum semi ovale (0.28·10−3 (0–0.59·10−3) and −0.06·10−3 (−0.17·10−3–0.20·10−3)), which was only significant for the heartbeat (p ​= ​0.02 and p ​= ​0.7, respectively). Furthermore, heartbeat-induced volumetric strain was about three times larger than respiration-induced volumetric strain. This technique opens a window on the driving forces of the human brain clearance system.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116581
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Brain,Deformation,Tissue strain,Single-shot DENSE,Waste clearance,Microvasculature,Magnetic resonance imaging,Small vessel disease
Biomedical engineering,Heartbeat,Respiration,White matter,Cognitive psychology,Psychology,Blood volume,Human brain,Image resolution,High field mri,Magnetic resonance imaging
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
210
1053-8119
1
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.36
0
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jacob-Jan Sloots110.70
Geert Jan Biessels2748.20
Jaco J. M. Zwanenburg3334.77