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MINI REVIEW article
Front. Phys.
Sec. Medical Physics and Imaging
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphy.2025.1487822
Compartmentalisation of sodium in the human brain: a mini-review of 23Na-MRI methods
Provisionally accepted- 1 Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS), Rome, Lazio, Italy
- 2 Centro Fermi - Museo storico della fisica e Centro studi e ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, Lazio, Italy
- 3 Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN), Catania, Sicily, Italy
Sodium MRI is a non-invasive technique that provides information about sodium levels in tissues. It has significant applications in brain research due to the important role of sodium in both normal brain function and pathological processes. Total sodium concentration is the most widely used derived metric, which offers insights into sodium content across different brain regions. However, the functional role of sodium is closely linked to its distribution within intra-and extracellular spaces. Sodium osmotic homeostasis affects the intracellular volume fraction, a parameter that can be altered in various neurological disorders. Unfortunately, distinguishing intracellular from extracellular sodium NMR signals is challenging, even with the use of contrast agents. In recent years, several methodologies have been proposed to study sodium compartmentalization in humans, typically involving tailored acquisition techniques and modelling approaches. This mini-review provides a brief overview of the challenges, methodologies, and potential applications of compartmentalised sodium MR imaging in human neuroscience.
Keywords: Sodium MRI, 23 Na MRI, Brain, Compartmentalisation, Neurological Diseases, biomarkers, modelling
Received: 28 Aug 2024; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Egidi, Guidi and Giove. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Federico Giove, Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS), Rome, 00179, Lazio, Italy
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