Functional Integration Between Brain Regions at Rest Occurs in Multiple-Frequency Bands

Studies of resting-state fMRI have shown that blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals giving rise to temporal correlation across voxels (or regions) are dominated by low-frequency fluctuations in the range of similar to 0.01-0.1 Hz. These low-frequency fluctuations have been further divided into multiple distinct frequency bands (slow-5 and -4) based on earlier neurophysiological studies, though low sampling frequency of fMRI (similar to 0.5 Hz) has substantially limited the exploration of other known frequency bands of neurophysiological origins (slow-3, -2, and -1). In this study, we used resting-state fMRI data acquired from 21 healthy subjects at a higher sampling frequency of 1.5 Hz to assess the presence of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) across multiple frequency bands: slow-5 to slow-1. The effect of different frequency bands on spatial extent and connectivity strength for known resting-state networks (RSNs) was also evaluated. RSNs were derived using independent component analysis and seed-based correlation. Commonly known RSNs, such as the default mode, the fronto-parietal, the dorsal attention, and the visual networks, were consistently observed at multiple frequency bands. Significant inter-hemispheric connectivity was observed between each seed and its contra lateral brain region across all frequency bands, though overall spatial extent of seed-based correlation maps decreased in slow-2 and slow-1 frequency bands. These results suggest that functional integration between brain regions at rest occurs over multiple frequency bands and RSFC is a multiband phenomenon. These results also suggest that further investigation of BOLD signal in multiple frequency bands for related cognitive processes should be undertaken.