Functional connectivity in rat brain at 200 μm resolution.

The somatosensory functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response to electrical stimulation of the middle phalange of the second digit of four rats at a spatial resolution of 200 μm cubic at 9.4 T is reported. At high threshold (p<0.002), activated voxels encompass a penetrating vein that passes across the gray matter. These voxels lie mostly in three contiguous slices perpendicular to the pial surface. This activation is assigned to the representation in the forepaw barrel subfield (FBS) of a single cortical column of this phalange. In addition, the activation of the indusium griseum (IG) is visualized robustly. Voxels revealed by fMRI were used to observe functional connectivity to other voxels of the sensorimotor cortex using fcMRI. Results of this experiment were analyzed as a function of decreasing threshold, which exhibited spreading connectivity that revealed S2, M1/M2, and contralateral S1. Noting that every cubic millimeter of tissue contains 125 voxels, connectivity patterns are complex. It is hypothesized that they reflect connections within gray matter by association fibers. S2 and IG revealed connectivities with many voxels across the sensorimotor cortex. These regions also showed subregional variation of connectivity. A 1-cm-diameter surface coil with a local low-noise RF amplifier was used in these studies. The usual region of sensitivity (ROS) of such a coil is 1 cm diameter by 0.5 cm depth. Significant connectivity was observed between time courses of voxels that were within the ROS and voxels that were outside, which extends the volume of tissue that can be observed by the methods of this article.