Researcher undergoes over 100 MRI scans to understand how sleep affects the brain
Armed with an advanced 7T MRI and one very committed graduate student, researchers are gaining new insight into how sleep patterns affect brain health.
Joshita Majumdar, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) at Auburn University, underwent 104 MRI brain scans over a period of 18 months while sporting a sleep-tracking ring to allow researchers to analyze her brain and make comparisons based on the quality of her sleep. The team concentrated on how sleep quality impacted levels of glutamate in the brain. Glutamate is the brain’s primary excitatory neurotransmitter, responsible for the majority of synaptic connections in the brain. It plays a vital role cognitive function, but excess amounts can damage or even kill nerve cells.
Sleep is restorative for the brain and is critical for eliminating toxins and waste. As such, researchers sought to determine how altered sleep patterns affect the level of glutamate present in the brain the next day. By having data on the quality of sleep Majumdar was getting nightly available to compare to weekly imaging, the team was able to pinpoint associations between sleep patterns and glutamate levels; better sleep resulted in lower levels of glutamate, whereas more restless nights resulted in higher levels.
“When we get a good night's sleep, the brain flushes out the byproducts that build up during all our active, wakeful moments,” Majumdar said. “You wake up with a fresh mind. But if that process is blocked, it’s going to hamper you the next day.”
Majumdar’s faculty mentor, Gopikrishna Deshpande, the Godbold Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the university, said the 7T MRI system was critical to the team’s ability to visualize changes in glutamate levels.
“Having the 7T let us pull apart the chemical signals far more cleanly than a 3T scanner could so we could measure glutamate on its own, instead of lumped together with closely related compounds,” he said. “That precision was a real advantage. Studies like these are only possible when you have a 7 Tesla scanner and the freedom to use it repeatedly. Most places don't have that combination. We are incredibly thankful to Dr. Thomas S. Denney Jr., director of the Neuroimaging Center, for creating such conditions and wholeheartedly supporting this study.”
Read more here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.