Push limits and extend boundaries of small animal fMRI

In this talk, I will first describe our effort to push the spatiotemporal limit of fMRI in the rodent brain. We developed a line-scanning fMRI method to demonstrate the laminar position of fMRI onset coincides with distinct neural inputs to the cortex (Yu et al. Nature Methods, 2014). Here, we acquired the fMRI signal across cortical depth in 50µm spatial resolution with 50ms sampling rate. Furthermore, we improved the method to image the BOLD and CBV fMRI signal from individual penetrating venules and arterioles across the cortex with 100x100µm spatial resolution and 100ms sampling rate. This work allows us to decipher the vascular contribution to the neurovascular coupling in the deep layer cortex. However, to provide specific neural control underlying the coupled vascular response, we need to elicit activity through different components across the vascular neural network. In the second part of my talk, I will show our recent effort to implement the fiber-optic insertion to drive activity through different neural circuit. The goal of the future work is to decipher the molecular, cellular, and neural-vascular circuit of the neurovascular coupling underlying fMRI