Functional ultrasound (fUS) is a neuroimaging method that uses ultrasound to track changes in cerebral blood volume as an indirect readout of neuronal activity at high spatiotemporal resolution. fUS is capable of imaging head-fixed or freely behaving rodents and of producing volumetric images of the entire mouse brain. It has been applied to many species, including primates and humans. Now that fUS is reaching maturity, it is being adopted by the neuroscience community. However, the nature of the fUS signal and the different implementations of fUS are not necessarily accessible to nonspecialists. This review aims to introduce these ultrasound concepts to all neuroscientists. We explain the physical basis of the fUS signal and the principles of the method, present the state of the art of its hardware implementation, and give concrete examples of current applications in neuroscience. Finally, we suggest areas for improvement during the next few years.

中文翻译：

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功能性超声神经影像

功能性超声（fUS）是一种神经成像方法，利用超声跟踪脑血容量的变化，以高时空分辨率间接读出神经元活动。 fUS 能够对头部固定或自由行为的啮齿动物进行成像，并生成整个小鼠大脑的体积图像。它已应用于许多物种，包括灵长类动物和人类。现在 fUS 已趋于成熟，正在被神经科学界所采用。然而，fUS 信号的性质和 fUS 的不同实现对于非专业人士来说不一定是易懂的。这篇综述旨在向所有神经科学家介绍这些超声概念。我们解释了 fUS 信号的物理基础和该方法的原理，介绍了其硬件实现的最新技术，并给出了当前在神经科学中应用的具体示例。最后，我们提出了未来几年需要改进的领域。