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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

NMR 15N Relaxation Experiments for the Investigation of Picosecond to Nanoseconds Structural Dynamics of Proteins
Published on: November 1, 2024
A nonlinear BOLD model accounting for refractory effect by applying the longitudinal relaxation in NMR to the linear
1Brain Imaging Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15203, USA. kjj1@pitt.edu
Abstract:
A mathematical model to regress the nonlinear blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI signal has been developed by incorporating the refractory effect into the linear BOLD model of the biphasic gamma variate function. The refractory effect was modeled as a relaxation of two separate BOLD capacities corresponding to the biphasic components of the BOLD signal in analogy with longitudinal relaxation of magnetization in NMR. When tested with the published fMRI data of finger tapping, the nonlinear BOLD model with the refractory effect reproduced the nonlinear BOLD effects such as reduced poststimulus undershoot and saddle pattern in a prolonged stimulation as well as the reduced BOLD signal for repetitive stimulation.
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