Altered cerebrovascular reactivity due to respiratory rate and breath holding: a BOLD-fMRI study on healthy adults

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2021

Abstract

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is of great significance for the treatment and prevention of cerebrovascular diseases. CVR can be mapped using the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal of fMRI. Breath holding (BH) is a reliable method to produce the desired increase in arterial CO2, while its application in clinical research is limited due to subject’s compliance and variability. BH task with variable respiratory rates could allow more flexibility in clinical populations. In this study, 50 healthy volunteers were scanned for end-inspiration BH tasks with three different respiration rates. For the three respiratory rates BH tasks, the CVR was estimated based on the BOLD signal and general linear model (GLM) separately. Specifically, the extra time delay was considered for the hemodynamic response function, and the optimal delay was estimated for each voxel. To measure CVR in grey matter, BOLD signals of end-inspiration BH were used as regressors in general linear models to quantify their impact on CVR. This was performed for regions and voxels. Systematic differences were observed between the three end-inspiratory breathing rates. The greatest increase in activation intensity was found in fast breathing followed by self-paced and slow breathing. We conclude that the BH task of variable respiratory rates allows for CVR measurement, making breath-holding challenges more flexible and appropriate for routine practice.

Identifier

85100908730 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Brain Structure and Function

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02236-5

e-ISSN

18632661

ISSN

18632653

PubMed ID

33598760

First Page

1229

Last Page

1239

Issue

4

Volume

226

Grant

61871420

Fund Ref

National Natural Science Foundation of China

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS