Cortical layer-dependent dynamic blood oxygenation, cerebral blood flow and cerebral blood volume responses during visual stimulation

The spatiotemporal characteristics of cerebral blood volume (CBV) and flow (CBF) responses are important for understanding neurovascular coupling mechanisms and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals. For this, cortical layer-dependent BOLD, CBV and CBF responses were measured at the cat visual cortex using fMRI. Major findings are: (i) the time-dependent fMRI cortical profile is dependent on imaging modality. Overall, the peak across the cortex occurs at the cortical surface for BOLD, but at the middle cortical layer for CBV and CBF. Compared to an initial stimulation period (4–10 s), the spatial specificity of CBV to the middle cortical layer increases significantly at a later time, while the specificity of BOLD and CBF slightly changes. (ii) The CBV response at the upper cortical area containing large pial vessels has a faster onset time and time to peak than the BOLD response at the same area, and a faster time to peak than CBV at the middle cortical area with microvessels. This suggests that the dilation of microvessels at the middle cortical area follows arterial volume increase at the surface of the cortex. (iii) For all three modalities, the post-stimulus undershoot was observed with the 60-s stimulation paradigm, indicating that the post-stimulus BOLD undershoot cannot be explained by the delayed venous CBV recovery theory under our experimental conditions. (iv) The relationship between CBV and CBF responses is both spatially and temporally dependent. Thus, a single power-law scaling constant (gamma value) may not be applicable for high-resolution study.