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Big BIRC On Campus

by Rebecca Ayer

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Intro   |   Improving Prospects   |   Not Only the Brain   |   Advancing the State of the Art

“Cat Scan” Reveals Brain Tumors

Training a New Generation of Scientists

 

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a variation of MRI that tracks the movement of water molecules along nerve axons, allows scientists to map the complex network of brain fibers connecting different brain areas.

 

Not Only the Brain

The BIRC’s tissue-imaging technologies will not be directed to the brain alone. The center’s capabilities will also benefit researchers investigating the dynamics of bone and muscle composition.

Kinesiology professor Kevin McCully has been working with MR magnets since 1985, studying the effects of age and disorders, such as chronic fatigue syndrome and spinal-cord injury, on muscle and vascular function. “People who suffer from neuromuscular or metabolic diseases have impaired energy metabolism,” said McCully. “In order to better understand why, and to develop exercise therapies that improve these conditions, there must be something we can measure.”

McCully uses MRS to measure the concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and phosphocreatine, two high-energy compounds important in the storage and release of energy in muscles. The imaging technique takes advantage of the fact that different chemicals vibrate at different frequencies, like a tuning fork, when stimulated by a specific range of radio frequencies within a strong magnetic field. This same principle, McCully explained, is applied by MRI units to excite hydrogen protons to create an image.

Physicist Qun Zhao sits at the console of the BIRC’s 3T MRI system suite. His particular expertise is an invaluable resource for UGA scientists interested in optimizing the quality of their MR imaging and research.

For his first project at BIRC, McCully will use MRS to examine the relationship between the inflammatory response and changes in the intracellular magnesium essential in ATP synthesis. Vigorous aerobic exercise will be used as it typically results in a mild inflammatory response.

“The ability to measure the inflammatory response in a human is an exciting prospect, because its exact cause isn’t clear,” said McCully. “Recent evidence has shown that your ability to respond to training, to make muscles bigger, or to improve your endurance might be linked to the inflammatory-response mechanism.”
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Intro   |   Improving Prospects   |   Not Only the Brain   |   Advancing the State of the Art

EMAIL THIS     PRINTABLE VERSION


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