Heliyon (Jun 2024)

Non-invasive measurement of rat auditory evoked fields using an optically pumped atomic magnetometer: Effects of task manipulation

  • Yi Ruan,
  • Zhao Xiang,
  • Guanzhong Lu,
  • Yuhai Chen,
  • Yufei Liu,
  • Fan Liu,
  • Jiahao Wang,
  • Ying Zhang,
  • Jia Yao,
  • Yu Liu,
  • Qiang Lin

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 11
p. e31740

Abstract

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Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) have become a favorable tool for magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurement, offering a non-invasive method of measurement. OPMs do not require cryogenic environments, sensors can be more closely aligned with the brain. We employed a passive single-stimulus paradigm in conjunction with OPMs with a sensitivity of 20 fT/ Hz to investigate the auditory response of rats to inter-stimulus interval (ISI) and frequencies, recording the rat auditory event-related magnetic fields (ERMFs). Our findings include: (1) Auditory evoked fields can be detected non-invasively by OPMs; (2) The amplitude of the rat auditory ERMFs varies with changes in ISI, with more pronounced amplitude changes observed after 5 s; (3) When the sound stimulus frequency is altered at the same ISI, the amplitude of the rats ERMFs changes with frequency, indicating significant differences in attention. Our method offers a valuable tool for the clinical application of a single stimulus paradigm and opens up a new avenue for research on the brain magnetic field detections.

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