Layer-fMRI VASO with short stimuli and event-related designs at 7 T

Layers and columns are the dominant processing units in the human (neo)cortex at the mesoscopic scale. While the blood oxygenation dependent (BOLD) signal has a high detection sensitivity, it is biased towards unwanted signals from large draining veins at the cortical surface. The additional fMRI contrast of vascular space occupancy (VASO) has the potential to augment the neuroscientific interpretability of layer-fMRI results by means of capturing complementary information of locally specific changes in cerebral blood volume (CBV). Specifically, VASO is not subject to unwanted sensitivity amplifications of large draining veins. Because of constrained sampling efficiency, it has been mainly applied in combination with efficient block task designs and long trial durations. However, to study cognitive processes in neuroscientific contexts, or probe vascular reactivity, short stimulation periods are often necessary. Here, we developed a VASO acquisition procedure with a short acquisition period and sub-millimeter resolution. During visual event-related stimulation, we show reliable responses in visual cortices within a reasonable number of trials (& SIM;20). Furthermore, the short TR and high spatial specificity of our VASO implementation enabled us to show differences in laminar reactivity and onset times. Finally, we explore the generalizability to a different stimulus modality (somatosensation). With this, we showed that CBV-sensitive VASO provides the means to capture layer-specific haemodynamic responses with high spatio-temporal resolution and is able to be used with event-related paradigms.

Automated summary

Layers and columns are the dominant processing units in the human cortex, and the blood oxygenation dependent (BOLD) signal is biased towards unwanted signals from large veins. This study shows that the vascular space occupancy (VASO) contrast can enhance the interpretability of layer-fMRI results by capturing complementary information of locally specific changes in cerebral blood volume (CBV) without the unwanted sensitivity amplifications of large veins. The study also develops a VASO acquisition procedure with short acquisition time and high spatial resolution, demonstrating the ability to capture layer-specific hemodynamic responses with high spatio-temporal resolution.