Description
Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) is noninvasive MRI technique for mesuring perfusion of the brain. It is an alternative method to widely used BOLD (Blood-Oxygen-Level Dependent) technique, which is focused on measuring metabolic activity of the brain. ASL allows the weighting of MRI singal by cerebral blood flow. Measurement of changes in blood flow as a consequence of neural activity is more direct approach than measurement of metabolic activity. The purpose of this stay is to learn the details about ASL MRI data analysis and employment of the ASL technique as early biomarker in detecting of specific changes in prodromal and early Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Acquired knowledge about ASL technique will be used at home institution (CEITEC) for studies realated to Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Summary of project results
Firstly, the ASL data had to be sorted and pre-processed according to prerequisites for further analysis. After the ASL data from Brno were properly sorted and prepared, the analysis itself was performed by the Dutch colleague researcher who created the matlab pipeline for ASL analysis. With the preliminary results available, the Skype meeting between our team together with Professor Rektorova, Norwegian team and Dutch researcher colleague was arranged. It was concluded that some corrections in ASL data acquisition need to be make and further analysis need to be conducted. Simultaneously, the white matter lesions (WML) annotations of fMRI flair data was performed. These WML annotations are needed for developing of software for automated WML assessment (under the project that was already established between Oslo and Spanish research lab) that will be very helpful in further fMRI analyses.
Summary of bilateral results
Increased skills/competences of staff