Direct measurement of oxygen extraction with fMRI using 6% CO2 inhalation

The blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal is an indirect hemodynamic signal that is sensitive to cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen. Therefore, the BOLD signal amplitude and dynamics cannot be interpreted unambiguously without additional physiological measurements, and thus, there remains a need for a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal, which is more closely related to the underlying neuronal activity. In this study, we measured CBF with continuous arterial spin labeling, CBV with an exogenous contrast agent and BOLD combined with intracortical electrophysiological recording in the primary visual cortex of the anesthetized monkey. During inhalation of 6% CO2, it was observed that CBF and CBV are not further increased by a visual stimulus, although baseline CBF for 6% CO2 is below the maximal value of CBF. In contrast, the electrophysiological response to the stimulation was found to be preserved during hypercapnia. As a consequence, the simultaneously measured BOLD signal responds negatively to a visual stimulation for 6% CO2 inhalation in the same voxels responding positively during normocapnia. These observations suggest that the fMRI response to a sensory stimulus for 6% CO2 inhalation occurs in the absence of a hemodynamic response, and it therefore directly reflects oxygen extraction into the tissue.