Summary

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then dynamic images of brain activity certainly warrant many, many more. This book will help users learn to decipher the dynamic imaging data that will be critical to our future understanding of complex brain functions. In recent years, there have been unprecedented methodological advancements in the imaging of brain activity. These techniques allow the measurement of everything from neural activity (e.g., membrane potential, ion ?ux, neurotransmitter ?ux) to energy metabolism (e.g., glucose consumption, oxygen consumption, creatine kinase ?ux) and functional hyperemia (e.g., blood ?ow, volume, oxygenation). This book deals with a variety of magnetic resonance, electrophysiology, and optical methods that are often used to measure some of these dynamic processes. All chapters were written by leading experts, spanning three continents, specializing in state-of-the-art methods. Brie?y, the book has ?ve sections. In the introductory section, there are two chapters; the ?rst one contains a brief pre- ble to dynamic brain imaging and the other presents a novel, analytical approach to processing of dynamically acquired data. The second section has four chapters and delves into a wide range of optical imaging methods. I am privileged to include a chapter from Lawrence B. Cohen, considered by many to be the authority on optical imaging and spectroscopy, both in vitro and in vivo [Cohen LB (1973) Physiol Rev.