{"id":59,"date":"2022-04-03T21:49:19","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T12:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.0.204\/www\/php8\/kisc\/wp_trial\/cinet_wp\/?page_id=59"},"modified":"2022-11-01T11:45:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T02:45:45","slug":"advisor-of-cinet-ogawa","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/cinetjp-static3.nict.go.jp\/english\/research\/advisor\/advisor-of-cinet-ogawa\/","title":{"rendered":"Seiji Ogawa, CiNet Advisor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Dr. Seiji Ogawa and his collaborators discovered the BOLD effect, the fundamental principle underlying functional magnetic resonance imaging (functional MRI; fMRI) and led one of the first studies that successfully demonstrated the viability of fMRI as a brain activity measurement technique. BOLD stands for \u201cblood oxygenation level dependent\u201d and has the effect of changing the MRI signal according to the oxygen saturation level of the blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hemoglobin in red blood cells has different magnetic properties depending on whether it is bound to oxygen or not. In other words, the amount of hemoglobin not bound to oxygen (i.e., oxygen saturation level) changes the MRI signal inside and around blood vessels. In the late 1980s, while imaging animal brains with MRI, Dr. Ogawa observed that a thread-like low signal appeared in the brain depending on the physiological state of the animal and further noticed that the signal change originated from hemoglobin in red blood cells. Dr. Ogawa had previously employed magnetic resonance (NMR) to study the molecular structure and function of hemoglobin, and this experience led to the discovery of the BOLD effect. He was convinced that the BOLD effect could be used to measure brain activity, and in 1992, together with colleagues, he succeeded in identifying brain regions that were activated during the performance of a task using fMRI.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n