Cortical modulation of BOLD signals in white matter

The relationship of BOLD signals in white matter to cortical neural activity remains unclear. We quantified the degree to which spontaneous neural activities in the cortex, which are reflected in low frequency fluctuations in cortical BOLD signals, modulate BOLD signals in white matter. From measurements of resting state correlations we find cortical networks of more basic level functions tend to contribute more to correlated fluctuations in white matter than those of higher level functions. In addition, each cortical network exhibits distinct, structurally interpretable spatial distribution patterns of white matter projections. Moreover, the myelination level of cortical networks is found to be strongly correlated with the white matter projection of cortical BOLD signals. Our findings confirm that BOLD signals in white matter encode neural activity in proportion to the spontaneous activity of individual cortical networks, and with network-specific spatial distribution patterns, which could be mediated by the microstructure of the brain cortex.