title: The effect of highly concentrated oxygen administration on cerebral activation levels and lateralization in visuospatial tasks.
abstract: This study investigated what effect a 30% oxygen administration had on visuospatial cognitive performance and cerebral activation and lateralization using fMRI. Eight college students were selected as the subjects for this study. An oxygen dispenser that provided 21% and 30% oxygen at a constant rate of 8L/min was developed. In order to measure the performance level of visuospatial cognition, two psychological tests were also developed. The experiment consisted of two runs, one for a visuospatial cognition task with normal air (21% oxygen) and the other for a visuospatial cognition task with hyperoxic air (30% oxygen). Functional brain images were taken with a 3T MRI using the single-shot EPI method. The results of the visuospatial behavioral analysis reveal that accuracy rates were enhanced with 30% oxygen administration when compared to 21% oxygen. There were more activations observed at the bilateral occipital, parietal, and frontal lobes with 30% oxygen administration. However, decreased cerebrum lateralization was observed with 30% oxygen administration in the same regions compared with 21% oxygen administration. Thus, it is concluded that the positive effect on the visuospatial cognitive performance level by the highly concentrated oxygen administration resulted from an increase of cerebrum activation and a decrease of cerebrum lateralization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, 322 Danwall-dong, Chungju, Chungbuk 380-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Soon-Cheol
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Gye-Rae
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Tack
authors.forename: Ik-Hyeon
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Soo-Yeol
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jin-Hun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Sohn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen