Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund awarded

Parkinson’s disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder mainly characterized motor symptoms. A possible treatment for this disease is deep brain stimulation, which involves the stereotactic placement of an electrode in the deeply situated subthalamic nucleus (STN). Although this improves motor symptoms, it can also induce side effects, which might be caused by the STN being responsible for both motor and non-motor brain functions. In this study we investigate the partition of the subthalamic nucleus into its motor and non-motor areas with the aid of ultra-high field functional and structural connectivity analysis.

Assessment of subcortical auditory areas in tinnitus with ultrahigh field fMRI (R. Arts, MSc & J. Smit, MSc/MD, Department of Translational Neuroscience)

Tinnitus (ringing of the ears) is a symptom characterized by the perception of sound in the absence of any objective external physical source. This disorder affects 600 million people worldwide and it has yet remained refractory to current medical treatment. Severe forms are directly associated with psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression. The primary goal of our study is to map and characterize structures of the auditory pathway in patients with tinnitus and compare them to controls. To this end, we will use 7 T MRI scanner and measure functional responses in auditory structures in the brainstem. The outcome of this study is essential for ongoing tinnitus research lines at the Maastricht UMC+. The structures which show increased activity or fluctuations in tinnitus could be targeted with Deep Brain Stimulation. Furthermore, these results will be of great clinical importance to objectively diagnose tinnitus.

Visualizing Alzheimer neuropathology with ultra-high field MRI (Dr. H. Jacobs, Department of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience)

In an increasingly aging society, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most common forms of dementia, is expected to triple by the year 2050. It is therefore crucial to improve early detection of this disease, as this could pave the way for early interventions. The diagnostic accuracy is currently dependent on the presence of two specific proteins in the brain. While we are able to visualize amyloid peptide accumulation by using invasive radioactive tracers, we are not yet able to visualize tau accumulation in the brain. The current study investigates the potential of new high-field MRI techniques to visualize both proteins in brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. As MRI is non-invasive such a technique would have great benefit for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in the clinical setting.

Feasibility of imaging hippocampal subfields using ultra-high filed MRI (Dr. P. Sarkheil, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience)

The goal is to establish an imaging approach to reliably visualize the hippocampal formation at the subfield level. The ability to visualize the detailed structural anatomy of the hippocampus facilitates detection of morphologic changes in a broad range of pathological conditions such as mood disorders. For this purpose, we will develop multi-sequence imaging protocols that take advantage of the improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the 7T field strength, while maintaining a clinically acceptable scan time. High-resolution statistical maps relating morphology to different covariates, such as diagnosis (bipolar vs unipolar mood disorder), genotype, drug responsiveness and prognosis, will provide important information for individual diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Small vessel angiography at 7 Tesla – morphology and pulsatility (Dr.ir. W. Backes, department of Radiology)

Diseases of small cerebral vessels frequently contribute to the neuropathology in stroke, dementia and ageing. Small vessel disease has an important role in cerebrovascular disease and is a leading cause of cognitive impairment. Until now, small vessel disease is mainly referred to when lesions of the brain parenchyma, like white matter lesions, are observed, rather than abnormalities of the small vessels themselves. Ultra high field MRI provides novel opportunities to assess such small vessels directly. Here we test 7 Tesla MRI to robustly determine the pulsatility and morphology of deep and small cerebral blood vessels.

Feasibility of integrating 7T-MR imaging into radiotherapy treatment planning for selective dose escalation and improved normal-tissue sparing in high-grade glioma (B. Baumert, MD, PhD, MBA, Department of Radiation Oncology)

A feasibility study on the integration of 7-Tesla MR imaging into radiotherapy treatment planning for high-grade glioma. Patients with these brain tumors have a very poor prognosis due to the infiltrative nature of this disease. So far, little research has been done with ultra-high field MRI within the field of neuro-oncology. This study compares 7-Tesla MR images with 3-Tesla images to explore the potential of ultra-high field MRI to enhance our understanding of tumor infiltration and the effects of radiotherapy on normal brain tissue. We hope that the higher spatial resolution of 7T MRI will improve the ability to detect, quantify and monitor both tumor activity and the effects of radiotherapy, and will lead to longer survival in patients with glioma.

High resolution 7T MRI evaluation of cartilage repair comparing perichondrium transplantation with autologous chondrocyte transplantation after 20 years (Dr. P. Emans, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery)

Cartilage has a very limited capacity for self-repair. Both Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation (ACT) and perichondrium transplantations (PT) were developed more than 2 decades ago to repair cartilage defects in the knee. Long-term results after cartilage repair largely depend on the capacity of the regenerated tissue to form the proper architecture and biochemical composition. In this project high resolution (7 Tesla) MRI will be used to examine the quality (biochemically and structurally) of repaired cartilage in 2 matched unique patient groups and thus comparing the repair capacity of ACT vs PT 20 years post-operative.

Context dependent value representation in human parietal cortex (J. Zimmermann, MSc, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience)

Life can be seen as a series of choices in which any organism has to decide which option to pursue. Thus, any organism faces the problem of weighting different options based on considerations that directly influence short and long term well-being as well as personal goals. Understanding the mechanisms in which the organism assigns different values to a particular options is therefore of crucial importance. The activity in many brain regions is sensitive to reward, a modulation that can reflect not just value but processes such as sensation, motivation, and attention. While normative models of choice assume that the values of options or goods are evaluated in an absolute manner, independent of other available alternatives, the neural representation of value has been shown to depend significantly on choice context. The current study thus aims at understanding the individual neural computational characteristics of value representation in human parietal cortex when the individual is faced with a varying choice context.