title: Caffeine alters the temporal dynamics of the visual BOLD response.
abstract: The blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses to visual stimuli, using both a 1-s long single trial stimulus and a 20-s long block stimulus, were measured in a 4-T magnetic field both before and immediately after a 200-mg caffeine dose. In addition, resting levels of cerebral blood flow (CBF) were measured using arterial spin labeling. For the single trial stimulus, the caffeine dose significantly (p<0.05) reduced the time to peak (TTP), the time after the peak at which the response returned to 50% of the peak amplitude (TA50), and the amplitude of the poststimulus undershoot in all subjects (N=5). Other parameters, such as the full-width half-maximum (FWHM) and the peak amplitude, also showed significant changes in the majority of subjects. For the block stimulus, the TTP, TA50, and the time for the response to reach 50% of the peak amplitude (T50) were significantly reduced. In some subjects, oscillations were observed in the poststimulus portion of the response with median peak periods of 9.1 and 9.5 s for the single trial and block responses, respectively. Resting CBF was reduced by an average of 24%. The reproducibility of the results was verified in one subject who was scanned on 3 different days. The dynamic changes are similar to those previously reported for baseline CBF reductions induced by hypocapnia and hyperoxia.
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0677, USA. ttliu@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Thomas T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yashar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Behzadi
authors.forename: Khaled
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Restom
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uludag
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Giedrius T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Buracas
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Dubowitz
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Buxton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000187:drug effects*; D001810:Blood Volume / Q000187:drug effects*; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000098:blood supply*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000187:drug effects*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000187:drug effects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine; D010100:Oxygen