Neurovascular coupling in terms of a control system: validation of a second-order linear system model

Neurovascular coupling (NC) adapts cerebral blood flow to cortical activity. Functional transcranial Doppler (f-TCD) investigations revealed a typical time course of evoked blood flow responses with an initial overshoot and a stabilization at a lower, but stable, level. This blood flow reaction can be described in terms of a control-system model. We tested reliability and validity of this new approach using different stimulation paradigms. The P2 segment of the posterior cerebral artery was insonated in 14 healthy volunteers and, subsequently, NC was stimulated using two tests, a checkerboard stimulus of 1 s with different repetition rates and a reading test. Data were analyzed according to algorithms of control-system theory. The reading test was used to measure test reliability and side differences. A second-order linear system can describe blood flow regulation of NC. Different stimulation protocols of the checkerboard test and the related evoked blood flow curves could be described by the same control-system model. Further, there were no differences between the checkerboard and reading test nor between right and left side or test and retest of the reading test. NC can be described in a much more detailed manner using control-system analysis. We were able to show that blood flow response due to different visual stimuli follow one common control-system model. Unlike quantification of NC using overshoot, parameters of the control system have smaller SDs, increasing the statistical power and, thereby, usefulness of f-TCD as a diagnostic instrument.