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Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Cerebral Blood Flow-Based Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Human Brain using Optical Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy
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Cerebral Blood Flow-Based Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Human Brain using Optical Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy

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Stronger influence of systemic than local hemodynamic-vascular factors on resting-state BOLD functional connectivity

Sebastian C Schneider1, Stephan Kaczmarz2, Jens Göttler3

  • 1Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Clinic for Psychiatry, Ismaningerstr. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, TUM Neuroimaging Center, Ismaningerstr. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Ismaningerstr. 22, 81675 Munich, Munich, Germany.

Neuroimage
|September 23, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Systemic factors like perfusion delays more strongly influence resting-state functional connectivity (BOLD-FC) than local factors. This finding from multi-modal MRI in healthy and ICAS patients highlights the impact of blood supply on brain activity patterns.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroimaging
  • Cerebrovascular Physiology
  • Functional MRI Analysis

Background:

  • Resting-state functional MRI (BOLD-FC) reflects neuronal and non-neuronal processes, including systemic and local hemodynamic-vascular influences.
  • Existing research often studies individual factors, with limited combined and comparative studies on their impact on BOLD-FC, especially in humans.
  • Asymptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS) presents a unique model to study impaired hemodynamics with preserved neuronal function.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and compare the impact of distinct systemic and local hemodynamic-vascular processes on homotopic BOLD-FC.
  • To assess these influences in both healthy controls and patients with unilateral asymptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS).
  • To quantify the relative contributions of systemic versus local factors to BOLD-FC variance.

Main Methods:

  • Employed a multi-modal MRI approach, including dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI and pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL).
  • Measured local hemodynamic indicators: capillary transit time heterogeneity (CTH), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and cerebral blood flow (CBF).
  • Measured systemic indicators: time-to-peak (TTP) from DSC MRI and BOLD lags from fMRI, analyzed using linear mixed models.

Main Results:

  • Hemodynamic-vascular factors (local and systemic) explained 20% of BOLD-FC variance across all participants.
  • Systemic factors (TTP, BOLD lags) contributed approximately twice as much to BOLD-FC variance as local factors (CTH, CBV, CBF).
  • Overall, local and systemic hemodynamic-vascular factors together explained 40.7% of BOLD-FC variance.

Conclusions:

  • Regional differences in blood supply, specifically systemic perfusion delays, exert a more significant influence on BOLD-FC than local neurovascular coupling impairments.
  • Findings emphasize the critical role of systemic hemodynamics in shaping resting-state brain activity patterns.
  • The study provides novel comparative insights into hemodynamic-vascular contributions to BOLD-FC in health and cerebrovascular disease.

Keywords:
BOLD functional connectivityResting statefunctional MRIhemodynamic-vascular MRIinternal carotid artery stenosis

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