Baseline blood oxygenation modulates response amplitude: Physiologic basis for intersubject variations in functional MRI signals.
Although BOLD functional MRI (fMRI) provides a useful tool for probing neuronal activities, large intersubject variations in signal amplitude are commonly observed. Understanding the physiologic basis for these variations will have a significant impact on many fMRI studies. First, the physiologic modulator can be used as a regressor to reduce variations across subjects, thereby improving statistical power for detecting group differences. Second, if a pathologic condition or a drug treatment is shown to change fMRI responses, monitoring this modulatory parameter is useful in correctly interpreting the fMRI changes to neuronal deficits/recruitments. Here we present evidence that the task-evoked fMRI signals are modulated by baseline blood oxygenation. To measure global blood oxygenation, we used a recently developed technique, T(2) relaxation under spin-tagging (TRUST) MRI, which yielded baseline oxygenation of 63.7% +/- 7.2% in the sagittal sinus with an estimation error of 1.3%. It was found that individuals with higher baseline oxygenation tend to have a smaller fMRI signal, and vice versa. For every 10% difference in baseline oxygenation across subjects, BOLD and cerebral blood flow (CBF) signals differ by -0.4% and -30.0%, respectively, when using visual stimulation. TRUST MRI is a useful measurement for fMRI studies to control for the modulatory effects of baseline oxygenation that are unique to each subject.
Lu
Hanzhang
H
Advanced Imaging Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. hanzhang.lu@utsouthwestern.edu
Zhao
Chenguang
C
Ge
Yulin
Y
Lewis-Amezcua
Kelly
K
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D010100:Oxygen