Using the magnetoencephalogram to noninvasively measure magnetite in the living human brain (original) (raw)
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Magnetic Deposits of Iron Oxides in the Human Brain
Nova Biotechnologica et Chimica, 2014
Deposits of iron oxides in the human brain (globus pallidus) are visible under electron microscopy as object of regular and or/irregular shape but giving sharp diffraction patterns in the transmission mode. The SQUID magnetometry reveals that the magnetization curves decline form an ideal Langevin function due to the dominating diamagnetism of organic tissue. The fitting procedure yields the quantitative characteristics of the overall magnetization curves that were further processed by statistical multivariate methods
Scientific Reports, 2021
The presence of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the human brain was attributed until recently to endogenous formation; associated with a putative navigational sense, or with pathological mishandling of brain iron within senile plaques. Conversely, an exogenous, high-temperature source of brain MNPs has been newly identified, based on their variable sizes/concentrations, rounded shapes/surface crystallites, and co-association with non-physiological metals (e.g., platinum, cobalt). Here, we examined the concentration and regional distribution of brain magnetite/maghemite, by magnetic remanence measurements of 147 samples of fresh/frozen tissues, from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and pathologically-unremarkable brains (80–98 years at death) from the Manchester Brain Bank (MBB), UK. The magnetite/maghemite concentrations varied between individual cases, and different brain regions, with no significant difference between the AD and non-AD cases. Similarly, all the elderly MBB brains contain...
Magnetic material in the human hippocampus
Brain Research Bulletin, 1995
Magnetic analyses of hippocampal material from deceased normal and epileptic subjects, and from the surgically removed epileptogenic zone of a living patient have been carried out. All had magnetic characteristics similar to those reported for other parts of the brain [6]. These characteristics along with low temperature analysis indicate that the magnetic material is present in a wide range of grain sizes. The low temperature analysis also revealed the presence of magnetite through manifestation of its low temperature transition. The wide range of grain sizes is similar to magnetite produced extracellularly by the GS-15 strain of bacteria and unlike that found in magnetotactic bacteria MV-1, which has a restricted grain size range. Optical microscopy of slices revealed rare 5-10 micron clusters of finer opaque particles, which were demonstrated with Magnetic Force Microscopy to be magnetic. One of these was shown with EDAX to contain AI, Ca, Fe, and K, with approximate weight percentages of 55, 19, 19, and 5, respectively.
Magnetic iron compounds in the human brain: a comparison of tumour and hippocampal tissue
Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 2006
Iron is a central element in the metabolism of normal and malignant cells. Abnormalities in iron and ferritin expression have been observed in many types of cancer. Interest in characterizing iron compounds in the human brain has increased due to advances in determining a relationship between excess iron accumulation and neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, four different magnetic methods have been employed to characterize the iron phases and magnetic properties of brain tumour (meningiomas) tissues and non-tumour hippocampal tissues. Four main magnetic components can be distinguished: the diamagnetic matrix, nearly paramagnetic blood, antiferromagnetic ferrihydrite cores of ferritin and ferrimagnetic magnetite and/or maghemite. For the first time, open hysteresis loops have been observed on human brain tissue at room temperature. The hysteresis properties indicate the presence of magnetite and/or maghemite particles that exhibit stable single-domain (SD) behaviour at room temperature. A significantly higher concentration of magnetically ordered magnetite and/or maghemite and a higher estimated concentration of heme iron was found in the meningioma samples. First-order reversal curve diagrams on meningioma tissue further show that the stable SD particles are magnetostatically interacting, implying high-local concentrations (clustering) of these particles in brain tumours. These findings suggest that brain tumour tissue contains an elevated amount of remanent iron oxide phases.
Distribution of magnetic remanence carriers in the human brain
Scientific Reports, 2018
That the human brain contains magnetite is well established; however, its spatial distribution in the brain has remained unknown. We present room temperature, remanent magnetization measurements on 822 specimens from seven dissected whole human brains in order to systematically map concentrations of magnetic remanence carriers. Median saturation remanent magnetizations from the cerebellum were approximately twice as high as those from the cerebral cortex in all seven cases (statistically significantly distinct, p = 0.016). Brain stems were over two times higher in magnetization on average than the cerebral cortex. The ventral (lowermost) horizontal layer of the cerebral cortex was consistently more magnetic than the average cerebral cortex in each of the seven studied cases. Although exceptions existed, the reproducible magnetization patterns lead us to conclude that magnetite is preferentially partitioned in the human brain, specifically in the cerebellum and brain stem.
Biogenic Magnetite in Humans and New Magnetic Resonance Hazard Questions
Measurement Science Review, 2011
The widespread use of magnetic resonance (MR) techniques in clinical practice, and recent discovery of biogenic ferrimagnetic substances in human tissue, open new questions regarding health hazards and MR. Current studies are restricted just to the induction of Faraday currents and consequent thermal effects, or 'inoffensive' interaction with static magnetic field. We outlined that magnetic energies associated with interaction of ferrimagnetic particles and MR magnetic fields can be dangerous for sensitive tissues like the human brain is. To simulate the interaction mechanism we use our 'Cube' model approach, which allows more realistic calculation of the particle's magnetic moments. Biogenic magnetite nanoparticles face during MR examination three principal fields: (i) main B 0 field, (ii) gradient field, and (iii) B 1 field. Interaction energy of biogenic magnetite nanoparticle with static magnetic field B 0 exceeds the covalent bond energy 5 times for particles from 4 nm up to 150 nm. Translation energy in gradient field exceeds biochemical bond energy for particles bigger than 50 nm. Biochemical bond disruption and particle release to the tissue environment, in the presence of all MR fields, are the most critical points of this interaction. And together with relaxation processes after application of RF pulses, they make biogenic magnetite nanoparticles a potential MR health hazard issue.
Looking for biogenic magnetite in brain ferritin using NMR relaxometry
NMR in Biomedicine, 2005
Mammalian cellular iron is stored inside the multisubunit protein ferritin, normally taking the structure of a ferrihydrite-like mineral core. It has been suggested that biogenic magnetite, which has been detected in the brain and may be related to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, could initially form in ferritin. Indeed, as ferritin is present in the brain, the ferrihydrite core could be a precursor for biogenic magnetite formationparticularly in cases where the normal functioning of the ferritin protein is disrupted. In this work, NMR relaxometry was used to detect magnetite inside samples of ferritin extracted from normal and Alzheimer-diseased brains. The method was first calibrated with different fractions of horse spleen ferritin and synthetic magnetite particles. The relaxometry results suggest that the proportion of iron contained in brain ferritin in the form of well-crystallized magnetite instead of ferrihydrite must be < 1%, which is much less than that reported for 'magnetite-like' phase in recent transmission electron microscopy studies of similar samples. Consequently, the magnetization of this 'magnetite-like' phase must be very low compared with that of magnetite.
Biomagnetic methodologies for the noninvasive investigations of the human brain (Magnobrain)
Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 1994
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) non-invasively infers the distribution of electric currents in the brain by measuring the magnetic fields they induce. Its superb spatial and temporal resolution provides a solid basis for the Tunctional imaging' of the brain provided it is integrated with other brain imaging techniques. MAGNOBRAIN is an applied research project that developed tools to integrate MEG with MRI and EEG. These include: (1) software for MEG oriented MRI feature extraction: (2) the Brain Data Base (BDB) which is a reference library of information on the brain used for more realistic and biologically meaningful functional localisations through MEG and EEG: and (3) a database of normative data (age and sex matched) for the interpretation of MEG. It is expected that these tools will evolve into a medical informatics environment that will aid the planning of neurosurgical operations as well as contribute to the exploration of mental function including the study of perception and cognition,
Magnetic resonance in medicine : official journal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine / Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2009
The magnetic field correlation (MFC) at an applied field level of 3 Tesla was estimated by means of MRI in several brain regions for 21 healthy human adults and 1 subject with aceruloplasminemia. For healthy subjects, highly elevated MFC values compared with surrounding tissues were found within the basal ganglia. These are argued as being primarily the result of microscopic magnetic field inhomogeneities generated by nonheme brain iron. The MFC in the aceruloplasminemia subject was significantly higher than for healthy adults in the globus pallidus, thalamus and frontal white matter, consistent with the known increased brain iron concentration associated with this disease.