BOLD consistently matches electrophysiology in human sensorimotor cortex at increasing movement rates: A combined 7T fMRI and ECoG study on neurovascular coupling

Jeroen C.W. Siero, Dora Hermes, Hans Hoogduin, Peter R. Luijten, Natalia Petridou, Nick F. Ramsey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is widely used to measure human brain function and relies on the assumption that hemodynamic changes mirror the underlying neuronal activity. However, an often reported saturation of the BOLD response at high movement rates has led to the notion of a mismatch in neurovascular coupling. We combined BOLD fMRI at 7T and intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) to assess the relationship between BOLD and neuronal population activity in human sensorimotor cortex using a motor task with increasing movement rates. Though linear models failed to predict BOLD responses from the task, the measured BOLD and ECoG responses from the same tissue were in good agreement. Electrocorticography explained almost 80% of the mismatch between measured- and model-predicted BOLD responses, indicating that in human sensorimotor cortex, a large portion of the BOLD nonlinearity with respect to behavior (movement rate) is well predicted by electrophysiology. The results further suggest that other reported examples of BOLD mismatch may be related to neuronal processes, rather than to neurovascular uncoupling.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1448-1456
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
Volume33
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2013

Keywords

  • 7 tesla
  • blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast
  • electrocorticography (ECoG)
  • fMRI
  • neurovascular coupling
  • sensorimotor cortex

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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