Frontiers in neuroimaging最新文献

{"title":"Deep learning-based segmentation of brain parenchyma and ventricular system in CT scans in the presence of anomalies.","authors":"Annika Gerken,&nbsp;Sina Walluscheck,&nbsp;Peter Kohlmann,&nbsp;Ivana Galinovic,&nbsp;Kersten Villringer,&nbsp;Jochen B Fiebach,&nbsp;Jan Klein,&nbsp;Stefan Heldmann","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1228255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1228255","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The automatic segmentation of brain parenchyma and cerebrospinal fluid-filled spaces such as the ventricular system is the first step for quantitative and qualitative analysis of brain CT data. For clinical practice and especially for diagnostics, it is crucial that such a method is robust to anatomical variability and pathological changes such as (hemorrhagic or neoplastic) lesions and chronic defects. This study investigates the increase in overall robustness of a deep learning algorithm that is gained by adding hemorrhage training data to an otherwise normal training cohort.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A 2D U-Net is trained on subjects with normal appearing brain anatomy. In a second experiment the training data includes additional subjects with brain hemorrhage on image data of the RSNA Brain CT Hemorrhage Challenge with custom reference segmentations. The resulting networks are evaluated on normal and hemorrhage test casesseparately, and on an independent test set of patients with brain tumors of the publicly available GLIS-RT dataset.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Adding data with hemorrhage to the training set significantly improves the segmentation performance over an algorithm trained exclusively on normally appearing data, not only in the hemorrhage test set but also in the tumor test set. The performance on normally appearing data is stable. Overall, the improved algorithm achieves median Dice scores of 0.98 (parenchyma), 0.91 (left ventricle), 0.90 (right ventricle), 0.81 (third ventricle), and 0.80 (fourth ventricle) on the hemorrhage test set. On the tumor test set, the median Dice scores are 0.96 (parenchyma), 0.90 (left ventricle), 0.90 (right ventricle), 0.75 (third ventricle), and 0.73 (fourth ventricle).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Training on an extended data set that includes pathologies is crucial and significantly increases the overall robustness of a segmentation algorithm for brain parenchyma and ventricular system in CT data, also for anomalies completely unseen during training. Extension of the training set to include other diseases may further improve the generalizability of the algorithm.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1228255"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406198/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9965708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Associations of mTBI and post-traumatic stress to amygdala structure and functional connectivity in military Service Members.","authors":"Sarah I Gimbel,&nbsp;Cailynn C Wang,&nbsp;Lars Hungerford,&nbsp;Elizabeth W Twamley,&nbsp;Mark L Ettenhofer","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1129446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1129446","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the highest public health priorities, especially among military personnel where comorbidity with post-traumatic stress symptoms and resulting consequences is high. Brain injury and post-traumatic stress symptoms are both characterized by dysfunctional brain networks, with the amygdala specifically implicated as a region with both structural and functional abnormalities.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study examined the structural volumetrics and resting state functional connectivity of 68 Active Duty Service Members with or without chronic mild TBI (mTBI) and comorbid symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS).</p><p><strong>Results and discussion: </strong>Structural analysis of the amygdala revealed no significant differences in volume between mTBI and healthy comparison participants with and without post-traumatic stress symptoms. Resting state functional connectivity with bilateral amygdala revealed decreased anterior network connectivity and increased posterior network connectivity in the mTBI group compared to the healthy comparison group. Within the mTBI group, there were significant regions of correlation with amygdala that were modulated by PTS severity, including networks implicated in emotional processing and executive functioning. An examination of a priori regions of amygdala connectivity in the default mode network, task positive network, and subcortical structures showed interacting influences of TBI and PTS, only between right amygdala and right putamen. These results suggest that mTBI and PTS are associated with hypo-frontal and hyper-posterior amygdala connectivity. Additionally, comorbidity of these conditions appears to compound these neural activity patterns. PTS in mTBI may change neural resource recruitment for information processing between the amygdala and other brain regions and networks, not only during emotional processing, but also at rest.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1129446"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406312/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9956738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A clearing in the objectivity of aesthetics?","authors":"Daniel H Lee,&nbsp;Junichi Chikazoe","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1211801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1211801","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As subjective experiences go, beauty matters. Although aesthetics has long been a topic of study, research in this area has not resulted in a level of interest and progress commensurate with its import. Here, we briefly discuss two recent advances, one computational and one neuroscientific, and their pertinence to aesthetic processing. First, we hypothesize that deep neural networks provide the capacity to model representations essential to aesthetic experiences. Second, we highlight the principal gradient as an axis of information processing that is potentially key to examining where and how aesthetic processing takes place in the brain. In concert with established neuroimaging tools, we suggest that these advances may cultivate a new frontier in the understanding of our aesthetic experiences.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1211801"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10466419/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10134687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"AI-driven and automated MRI sequence optimization in scanner-independent MRI sequences formulated by a domain-specific language.","authors":"Daniel Christopher Hoinkiss,&nbsp;Jörn Huber,&nbsp;Christina Plump,&nbsp;Christoph Lüth,&nbsp;Rolf Drechsler,&nbsp;Matthias Günther","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1090054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1090054","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The complexity of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sequences requires expert knowledge about the underlying contrast mechanisms to select from the wide range of available applications and protocols. Automation of this process using machine learning (ML) can support the radiologists and MR technicians by complementing their experience and finding the optimal MRI sequence and protocol for certain applications.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We define domain-specific languages (DSL) both for describing MRI sequences and for formulating clinical demands for sequence optimization. By using various abstraction levels, we allow different key users exact definitions of MRI sequences and make them more accessible to ML. We use a vendor-independent MRI framework (gammaSTAR) to build sequences that are formulated by the DSL and export them using the generic file format introduced by the Pulseq framework, making it possible to simulate phantom data using the open-source MR simulation framework JEMRIS to build a training database that relates input MRI sequences to output sets of metrics. Utilizing ML techniques, we learn this correspondence to allow efficient optimization of MRI sequences meeting the clinical demands formulated as a starting point.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>ML methods are capable of capturing the relation of input and simulated output parameters. Evolutionary algorithms show promising results in finding optimal MRI sequences with regards to the training data. Simulated and acquired MRI data show high correspondence to the initial set of requirements.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>This work has the potential to offer optimal solutions for different clinical scenarios, potentially reducing exam times by preventing suboptimal MRI protocol settings. Future work needs to cover additional DSL layers of higher flexibility as well as an optimization of the underlying MRI simulation process together with an extension of the optimization method.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1090054"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406289/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10301591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review: The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in clinical trials and experimental research studies for depression.","authors":"Vasileia Kotoula,&nbsp;Jennifer W Evans,&nbsp;Claire E Punturieri,&nbsp;Carlos A Zarate","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1110258","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1110258","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive technique that can be used to examine neural responses with and without the use of a functional task. Indeed, fMRI has been used in clinical trials and pharmacological research studies. In mental health, it has been used to identify brain areas linked to specific symptoms but also has the potential to help identify possible treatment targets. Despite fMRI's many advantages, such findings are rarely the primary outcome measure in clinical trials or research studies. This article reviews fMRI studies in depression that sought to assess the efficacy and mechanism of action of compounds with antidepressant effects. Our search results focused on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most commonly prescribed treatments for depression and ketamine, a fast-acting antidepressant treatment. Normalization of amygdala hyperactivity in response to negative emotional stimuli was found to underlie successful treatment response to SSRIs as well as ketamine, indicating a potential common pathway for both conventional and fast-acting antidepressants. Ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects make it a particularly useful compound for studying depression with fMRI; its effects on brain activity and connectivity trended toward normalizing the increases and decreases in brain activity and connectivity associated with depression. These findings highlight the considerable promise of fMRI as a tool for identifying treatment targets in depression. However, additional studies with improved methodology and study design are needed before fMRI findings can be translated into meaningful clinical trial outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1110258"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406217/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9956735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Using fNIRS to evaluate ADHD medication effects on neuronal activity: A systematic literature review.","authors":"Eva Poliakova, Amy L Conrad, Kelly M Schieltz, Matthew J O'Brien","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1083036","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1083036","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a relatively non-invasive and inexpensive functional neuroimaging technique that has shown promise as a method for understanding the differences in neuronal activity associated with various neurodevelopmental conditions, including ADHD. Additionally, fNIRS has been suggested as a possible tool to understand the impact of psychotropic medications on brain activity in individuals with ADHD, but this approach is still in its infancy.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The purpose of this systematic literature review was to synthesize the extant research literature on the use of fNIRS to assess the effects of ADHD medications on brain activity in children and adolescents with ADHD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A literature search following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Literature Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was conducted for peer-reviewed articles related to ADHD, medication, and fNIRS in PsychInfo, Scopus, and PubMed electronic databases.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The search yielded 23 published studies meeting inclusion criteria. There was a high degree of heterogeneity in terms of the research methodology and procedures, which is explained in part by the distinct goals and approaches of the studies reviewed. However, there was also relative consistency in outcomes among a select group of studies that demonstrated a similar research focus.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Although fNIRS has great potential to further our understanding of the effects of ADHD medications on the neuronal activity of children and adolescents with ADHD, the current research base is still relatively small and there are limitations and methodological inconsistencies that should be addressed in future studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10078617/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9277952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dependence of resting-state-based cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) mapping on spatial resolution.","authors":"Peiying Liu,&nbsp;Beini Hu,&nbsp;Lincoln Kartchner,&nbsp;Parimal Joshi,&nbsp;Cuimei Xu,&nbsp;Dengrong Jiang","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1205459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1205459","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is typically assessed with a carbon dioxide (CO₂) stimulus combined with BOLD fMRI. Recently, resting-state (RS) BOLD fMRI has been shown capable of generating CVR maps, providing a potential for broader CVR applications in neuroimaging studies. However, prior RS-CVR studies have primarily been performed at a spatial resolution of 3-4 mm voxel sizes. It remains unknown whether RS-CVR can also be obtained at high-resolution without major degradation in image quality. In this study, we investigated RS-CVR mapping based on resting-state BOLD MRI across a range of spatial resolutions in a group of healthy subjects, in an effort to examine the feasibility of RS-CVR measurement at high resolution. Comparing the results of RS-CVR with the maps obtained by the conventional CO2-inhalation method, our results suggested that good CVR map quality can be obtained at a voxel size as small as 2 mm isotropic. Our results also showed that, RS-CVR maps revealed resolution-dependent sensitivity. However, even at a high resolution of 2 mm isotropic voxel size, the voxel-wise sensitivity is still greater than that of typical task-evoked fMRI. Scan duration affected the sensitivity of RS-CVR mapping, but had no significant effect on its accuracy. These findings suggest that RS-CVR mapping can be applied at a similar resolution as state-of-the-art fMRI studies, which will broaden the use of CVR mapping in basic science and clinical applications including retrospective analysis of previously collected fMRI data.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1205459"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406303/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9965712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Case report: Utilizing diffusion-weighted MRI on a patient with chronic low back pain treated with spinal cord stimulation.","authors":"Isaiah Ailes,&nbsp;Mashaal Syed,&nbsp;Caio M Matias,&nbsp;Laura Krisa,&nbsp;Jingya Miao,&nbsp;Anish Sathe,&nbsp;Islam Fayed,&nbsp;Abdulaziz Alhussein,&nbsp;Peter Natale,&nbsp;Feroze B Mohamed,&nbsp;Kiran Talekar,&nbsp;Mahdi Alizadeh","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1137848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1137848","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dwMRI) has increasingly demonstrated greater utility in analyzing neuronal microstructure. In patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP), using dwMRI to observe neuronal microstructure can lead to non-invasive biomarkers which could provide clinicians with an objective quantitative prognostic tool. In this case report, we investigated dwMRI for the development of non-invasive biomarkers by conducting a region-based analysis of a 55-year-old male patient with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) treated with spinal cord stimulation (SCS). We hypothesized that dwMRI could safely generate quantitative data reflecting cerebral microstructural alterations driven by neuromodulation. Neuroimaging was performed at 6- and 12- months post-SCS implantation. The quantitative maps generated included diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters; fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD), and mean diffusivity (MD) computed from whole brain tractography. To examine specific areas of the brain, 44 regions of interest (ROIs), collectively representing the pain NeuroMatrix, were extracted and registered to the patient's diffusion space. Average diffusion indices were calculated from the ROIs at both 6- and 12- months. Regions with >10% relative change in at least 3 of the 4 maps were reported. Using this selection criterion, 8 ROIs demonstrated over 10% relative changes. These ROIs were mainly located in the insular gyri. In addition to the quantitative data, a series of questionnaires were administered during the 6- and 12-month visits to assess pain intensity, functional disability, and quality of life. Overall improvements were observed in these components, with the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) displaying the greatest change. Lastly, we demonstrated the safety of dwMRI for a patient with SCS. In summary, the results from the case report prompt further investigation in applying dwMRI in a larger cohort to better correlate the influence of SCS with brain microstructural alterations, supporting the utility of dwMRI to generate non-invasive biomarkers for prognostication.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1137848"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406238/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9956740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiplex core of the human brain using structural, functional and metabolic connectivity derived from hybrid PET-MR imaging.","authors":"Martijn Devrome,&nbsp;Koen Van Laere,&nbsp;Michel Koole","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1115965","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1115965","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the increasing success of mapping brain networks and availability of multiple MR- and PET-based connectivity measures, the need for novel methodologies to unravel the structure and function of the brain at multiple spatial and temporal scales is emerging. Therefore, in this work, we used hybrid PET-MR data of healthy volunteers (<i>n</i> = 67) to identify multiplex core nodes in the human brain. First, monoplex networks of structural, functional and metabolic connectivity were constructed, and consequently combined into a multiplex SC-FC-MC network by linking the same nodes categorically across layers. Taking into account the multiplex nature using a tensorial approach, we identified a set of core nodes in this multiplex network based on a combination of eigentensor centrality and overlapping degree. We introduced a coreness coefficient, which mitigates the effect of modeling parameters to obtain robust results. The proposed methodology was applied onto young and elderly healthy volunteers, where differences observed in the monoplex networks persisted in the multiplex as well. The multiplex core showed a decreased contribution to the default mode and salience network, while an increased contribution to the dorsal attention and somatosensory network was observed in the elderly population. Moreover, a clear distinction in eigentensor centrality was found between young and elderly healthy volunteers.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1115965"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10461102/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10121083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural and functional characterization of the locus coeruleus in young and late middle-aged individuals.","authors":"Alexandre Berger,&nbsp;Ekaterina Koshmanova,&nbsp;Elise Beckers,&nbsp;Roya Sharifpour,&nbsp;Ilenia Paparella,&nbsp;Islay Campbell,&nbsp;Nasrin Mortazavi,&nbsp;Fermin Balda,&nbsp;Yeo-Jin Yi,&nbsp;Laurent Lamalle,&nbsp;Laurence Dricot,&nbsp;Christophe Phillips,&nbsp;Heidi I L Jacobs,&nbsp;Puneet Talwar,&nbsp;Riëm El Tahry,&nbsp;Siya Sherif,&nbsp;Gilles Vandewalle","doi":"10.3389/fnimg.2023.1207844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnimg.2023.1207844","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) influences a broad range of brain processes, including cognition. The so-called LC contrast is an accepted marker of the integrity of the LC that consists of a local hyperintensity on specific Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) structural images. The small size of the LC has, however, rendered its functional characterization difficult in humans, including in aging. A full characterization of the structural and functional characteristics of the LC in healthy young and late middle-aged individuals is needed to determine the potential roles of the LC in different medical conditions. Here, we wanted to determine whether the activation of the LC in a mismatch negativity task changes in aging and whether the LC functional response was associated to the LC contrast.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used Ultra-High Field (UHF) 7-Tesla functional MRI (fMRI) to record brain response during an auditory oddball task in 53 healthy volunteers, including 34 younger (age: 22.15y ± 3.27; 29 women) and 19 late middle-aged (age: 61.05y ± 5.3; 14 women) individuals.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Whole-brain analyses confirmed brain responses in the typical cortical and subcortical regions previously associated with mismatch negativity. When focusing on the brainstem, we found a significant response in the rostral part of the LC probability mask generated based on individual LC images. Although bilateral, the activation was more extensive in the left LC. Individual LC activity was not significantly different between young and late middle-aged individuals. Importantly, while the LC contrast was higher in older individuals, the functional response of the LC was not significantly associated with its contrast.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings may suggest that the age-related alterations of the LC structural integrity may not be related to changes in its functional response. The results further suggest that LC responses may remain stable in healthy individuals aged 20 to 70.</p>","PeriodicalId":73094,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in neuroimaging","volume":"2 ","pages":"1207844"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10406214/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9965707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}