Working memory task induced neural activation: A simultaneous PET/fMRI study

Purpose: Positron emission tomography (PET) with [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is a powerful method for mapping cerebral glucose metabolism as a proxy of neural activity, assuming a steady-state during the recording interval. We asked if a clinical FDG-PET imaging protocol might also capture changes in neural activity associated with performance of a working memory (WM) task. Methods: To test this concept, we examined hybrid PET/MR data for FDG-PET and simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a sample of healthy volunteers. The PET image acquisition started 30 min after a bolus injection of approximately 100 MBq FDG, and the WM task was undertaken starting at approximately 60 min post-injection. We reconstructed FDG-PET sum images corresponding to baseline (44-60 min p.i.) and WM tasks (63-71 min p.i.), each with intensity scaling to the corresponding global mean. Results: Compared to the baseline resting condition, relative FDG uptake increased during WM task performance in brain regions previously associated with WM. Furthermore, these metabolically active regions partly overlapped with the regions showing task-dependent increases in BOLD signal in simultaneous fMRI. Conclusion: We find evidence for WM task-induced neural activation using a clinical FDG-PET imaging protocol. These findings encourage the development of dedicated protocols for tracking neural correlates of cognitive function.

Automated summary

The study demonstrated neural activation induced by working memory tasks using a clinical FDG-PET imaging protocol, showing increased relative FDG uptake in brain regions associated with working memory during task performance, with overlap in metabolically active regions and regions showing task-dependent increases in BOLD signal in simultaneous fMRI. These findings support the development of specialized protocols for tracking neural correlates of cognitive function.