title: Multi-regional investigation of the relationship between functional MRI blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation and GABA concentration.
abstract: Several recent studies have reported an inter-individual correlation between regional GABA concentration, as measured by MRS, and the amplitude of the functional blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response in the same region. In this study, we set out to investigate whether this coupling generalizes across cortex. In 18 healthy participants, we performed edited MRS measurements of GABA and BOLD-fMRI experiments using regionally related activation paradigms. Regions and tasks were the: occipital cortex with a visual grating stimulus; auditory cortex with a white noise stimulus; sensorimotor cortex with a finger-tapping task; frontal eye field with a saccade task; and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with a working memory task. In contrast to the prior literature, no correlation between GABA concentration and BOLD activation was detected in any region. The origin of this discrepancy is not clear. Subtle differences in study design or insufficient power may cause differing results; these and other potential reasons for the discrepant results are discussed. This negative result, although it should be interpreted with caution, has a larger sample size than prior positive results, and suggests that the relationship between GABA and the BOLD response may be more complex than previously thought.
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America; F. M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ashley D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America; F. M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nicolaas A J
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Puts
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yantis
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America; F. M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Pekar
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America; F. M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America; F. M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Richard A E
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Edden
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D066191:Sensorimotor Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D010100:Oxygen