Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

This study used an infusion of a paramagnetic contrast agent to perturb intravascular blood susceptibility and investigate its effect on the BOLD hemodynamic response. A three compartment BOLD signal model combined with a modified balloon model was developed to interpret the MR signal. This model incorporated arterial blood volume in order to simulate signal changes resulting from the contrast agent. The BOLD signal model was fitted to the experimental data to test the hypothesis that arterial blood volume changes during activation. It was found that allowing arterial blood volume to change, rather than assuming this change is negligible as often assumed in the literature, provides a better fit to the experimental data, particularly during the BOLD overshoot. The post-stimulus undershoot was fitted well, regardless of whether the arterial blood volume was allowed to change, by assuming that this feature is due to delayed venous compliance. However the resultant elevation in post-stimulus blood volume decays with an extremely long time constant, taking more than 55 s to recover to baseline following a 4.8 s stimulus. The post-stimulus signal changes measured here could alternatively be described by a post-stimulus elevation in metabolism. An alternative model of oxygen extraction, in place of the Oxygen Limitation model, would be required to test this hypothesis.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.038

Type

Journal article

Journal

Neuroimage

Publication Date

15/10/2009

Volume

48

Pages

84 - 93

Keywords

Adult, Algorithms, Blood Volume, Brain, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Contrast Media, Humans, Least-Squares Analysis, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Models, Neurological, Nonlinear Dynamics, Oxygen, Photic Stimulation, Time Factors, Visual Perception, Young Adult