Learning-induced plasticity in vascular properties in the human brain

The brain is a plastic organ, able to undergo structural and functional changes following changing physiological contingencies, such as diseases and exercise training. However, the nature of the biological changes that underlie plasticity in the adult human brain is not fully understood. In light of this lack of knowledge of the biological mechanism behind brain plasticity, non-invasive imaging can be used to track plasticity changes in the living human brain. Quantitative and physiologically-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques are an ideal tool to study these mechanisms. Plasticity is believed to involve a variety of physiological mechanisms. Some of these mechanisms are neuronal in nature, such as synaptogenesis and changes in neuronal morphology, but changes in non-neuronal tissue components are also thought to contribute, including angiogenesis. The latter may result in increased cerebral blood flow (CBF). CBF estimation can be obtained using arterial spin labeling (ASL). In this technique, water protons in blood are magnetically labelled and this labelling is used to measure the amount of blood that perfuses brain regions. The detection of blood perfusion changes during and following learning intervention would be indicative of a contribution of vascular plasticity to learning-induced changes. In this project, we will use ASL to measure plasticity-induced changes in CBF in motor areas during and following five days of motor task learning