High-resolution neurometabolic coupling revealed by focal activation of visual neurons.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging is an important tool for measuring brain function noninvasively, but the vascular and metabolic changes on which its measurements are based are not fully understood. Here, we examined the relationship between these changes and neural activity on a fine spatial scale through simultaneous measurements of tissue oxygen and extracellular neural activity in the cat lateral geniculate nucleus. Our findings indicate that activity-dependent increases in cerebral blood flow and oxidative metabolism occur on different spatial scales, and that the ratio between the two depends on the size of the activated neural population.
Thompson
Jeffrey K
JK
Group in Vision Science, School of Optometry, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-2020, USA.
Peterson
Matthew R
MR
Freeman
Ralph D
RD
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000098:blood supply / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012858:Size Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*
D010100:Oxygen