Neurovascular saturation thresholds under high intensity auditory stimulation during wake

Coupling between neural activity and hemodynamic responses is important in understanding brain function, interpreting brain-imaging signals, and assessing pathological conditions. Tissue state is a major factor in neurovascular coupling and may alter the relationship between neural and hemodynamic activity. However, most neurovascular-coupling studies are performed under anesthetized or sedated states which may have severe consequences on coupling mechanisms. Our previous studies showed that following prolonged periods of sleep deprivation, evoked hemodynamic responses were muted despite consistent electrical responses, suggesting that sustained neural activity may decrease vascular compliance and limit blood perfusion. To investigate potential perfusion limitations during natural waking conditions, we simultaneously measured evoked response potentials (ERPs) and evoked hemodynamic responses using optical-imaging techniques to increase intensity auditory stimulation. The relationship between evoked hemodynamic responses and integrated ERPs followed a sigmoid relationship where the hemodynamic response approached saturation at lower stimulus intensities than the ERP. If limits in blood perfusion are caused by stretching of the vessel wall, then these results suggest there may be decreased vascular compliance due to sustained neural activity during wake, which could limit vascular responsiveness and local blood perfusion. Conditions that stress cerebral vasculature, such as sleep deprivation and some pathologies (e.g., epilepsy), may further decrease vascular compliance, limit metabolic delivery, and cause tissue trauma. While ERPs and evoked hemodynamic responses provide an indication of the correlated neural activity and metabolic demand, the relationship between these two responses is complex and the different measurement techniques are not directly correlated. Future studies are required to verify these findings and further explore neurovascular coupling during wake by assessing local field potentials, vascular expansion, hemodynamic response localization.