TY - JOUR
T1 - Disease and the brain's dark energy
AU - Zhang, Dongyang
AU - Raichle, Marcus E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Abraham Z. Snyder and Benjamin J. Shannon (Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University, St Louis, MO, USA) for their insightful comments and valuable suggestions throughout the writing process. Funding for this work was provided by NIH grant NS06833 and National Institute of Mental Health grant F30 MH083483.
PY - 2010/1
Y1 - 2010/1
N2 - Brain function has traditionally been studied in terms of physiological responses to environmental demands. This approach, however, ignores the fact that much of the brain's energy is devoted to intrinsic neuronal signaling. Recent studies indicate that intrinsic neuronal activity manifests as spontaneous fluctuations in the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) signal. The study of such fluctuations could potentially provide insight into the brain's functional organization. In this article, we begin by presenting an overview of the strategies used to explore intrinsic neuronal activity. Considering the possibility that intrinsic signaling accounts for a large proportion of brain activity, we then examine whether the functional architecture of intrinsic activity is altered in neurological and psychiatric diseases. We also review a clinical application of brain mapping, in which intrinsic activity is employed for the preoperative localization of functional brain networks in patients undergoing neurosurgery. To end the article, we explore some of the basic science pursuits that have been undertaken to further understand the physiology behind intrinsic activity as imaged with BOLD fMRI.
AB - Brain function has traditionally been studied in terms of physiological responses to environmental demands. This approach, however, ignores the fact that much of the brain's energy is devoted to intrinsic neuronal signaling. Recent studies indicate that intrinsic neuronal activity manifests as spontaneous fluctuations in the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) signal. The study of such fluctuations could potentially provide insight into the brain's functional organization. In this article, we begin by presenting an overview of the strategies used to explore intrinsic neuronal activity. Considering the possibility that intrinsic signaling accounts for a large proportion of brain activity, we then examine whether the functional architecture of intrinsic activity is altered in neurological and psychiatric diseases. We also review a clinical application of brain mapping, in which intrinsic activity is employed for the preoperative localization of functional brain networks in patients undergoing neurosurgery. To end the article, we explore some of the basic science pursuits that have been undertaken to further understand the physiology behind intrinsic activity as imaged with BOLD fMRI.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=75149118852&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nrneurol.2009.198
DO - 10.1038/nrneurol.2009.198
M3 - Review article
C2 - 20057496
AN - SCOPUS:75149118852
SN - 1759-4758
VL - 6
SP - 15
EP - 28
JO - Nature Reviews Neurology
JF - Nature Reviews Neurology
IS - 1
ER -