article
Quantification of BOLD fMRI Parameters to Infer Cerebrovascular Reactivity of the Middle Cerebral Artery
Autor
Mazzetto-Betti, Kelley C.
Leoni, Renata F.
Pontes-Neto, Octavio M.
Sturzbecher, Marcio J.
Santos, Antonio C.
Leite, Joao P.
Silva, Afonso C.
Araújo, Dráulio Barros de
Resumen
Purpose: To quantify the amplitude and temporal aspects
of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response
to an auditory stimulus during normocapnia and hypercapnia
in healthy subjects in order to establish which
BOLD parameters are best suited to infer the cerebrovascular
reactivity (CVR) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA)
territory.
Materials and Methods: Twenty healthy volunteers
(mean age: 23.6 6 3.7 years, 11 women) were subjected
to a functional paradigm composed of five epochs of auditory
stimulus (3 sec) intercalated by six intervals of rest
(21 sec). Two levels of hypercapnia were achieved by a
combination of air and CO2 while the end-tidal CO2
(ETCO2) was continually measured. An autoregressive
method was applied to analyze four parameters of the
BOLD signal: onset-time, time-to-peak, full-width-at-halfmaximum
(FWHM), and amplitude.
Results: BOLD onset time (P < 0.001) and full-width at
half-maximum (FWHM) (P < 0.05) increased linearly,
while BOLD amplitude decreased (P < 0.001) linearly with
increasing levels of hypercapnia. Test–retest for reproducibility
in five subjects revealed excellent concordance for
onset time and amplitude.
Conclusion: The robust linear dependence of BOLD onset
time, FWHM, and amplitude to hypercapnia suggest
future application of this protocol in clinical studies
aimed at evaluating CVR of the MCA territory.