White versus gray matter: fMRI hemodynamic responses show similar characteristics, but differ in peak amplitude

BMC Neuroscience

Ryan C N D’Arcy²  Steven D Beyea⁴  M Tynan Stevens¹  Leanne M Fraser³ 

[1] Department of Physics and Atmospheric Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada;Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada;Department of Psychology/Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada;School of Biomedical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

关键词: Interhemispheric transfer;    Event-related fMRI;    Hemodynamic response function;    BOLD response;    Functional connectivity;    White matter;   

Others  :  1170604
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2202-13-91

 received in 2012-04-02, accepted in 2012-07-17,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

There is growing evidence for the idea of fMRI activation in white matter. In the current study, we compared hemodynamic response functions (HRF) in white matter and gray matter using 4 T fMRI. White matter fMRI activation was elicited in the isthmus of the corpus callosum at both the group and individual levels (using an established interhemispheric transfer task). Callosal HRFs were compared to HRFs from cingulate and parietal activation.

Results

Examination of the raw HRF revealed similar overall response characteristics. Finite impulse response modeling confirmed that the WM HRF characteristics were comparable to those of the GM HRF, but had significantly decreased peak response amplitudes.

Conclusions

Overall, the results matched a priori expectations of smaller HRF responses in white matter due to the relative drop in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV). Importantly, the findings demonstrate that despite lower CBF and CBV, white matter fMRI activation remained within detectable ranges at 4 T.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Fraser et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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