40 percent of MRI signals do not correspond to actual brain activity
3 days ago
- #oxygen metabolism
- #brain activity
- #fMRI
- 40% of fMRI signals do not correspond to actual brain activity, challenging the assumption that increased brain activity always increases blood flow.
- Researchers found that increased fMRI signals can coincide with reduced brain activity, and vice versa, contradicting long-held beliefs.
- A novel MRI technique showed that some brain regions meet higher energy demands by extracting more oxygen from existing blood flow, not by increasing perfusion.
- These findings suggest that fMRI interpretations in psychiatric and neurological disorders may need reassessment, as blood flow changes might reflect vascular differences rather than neuronal activity.
- The study proposes combining conventional MRI with quantitative measurements to create energy-based brain models for more accurate diagnostics in aging and neurodegenerative diseases.