Gaining insight into the neural basis of resting-state fMRI signal

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 250; p. 118960
• Main Authors: Ma, Zilu, Zhang, Qingqing, Tu, Wenyu, Zhang, Nanyin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 15.04.2022; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Awake; Brain architecture; Brain mapping; Calcium - metabolism; Calcium signalling; Default Mode Network - diagnostic imaging; Default Mode Network - metabolism; Fiber optics; Firing pattern; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; GCaMP; Hippocampus - diagnostic imaging; Hippocampus - metabolism; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Neural networks; Neuroimaging; Neurons; Photometry; Preprocessing; Rat; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Recovery (Medical); Resting-state fMRI; Surgery; GCaMP; Resting-state fMRI; Preprocessing; Rat; Awake
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118960

•BOLD and calcium signals were simultaneously measured in awake rats.•Robust couplings between calcium and BOLD signals were observed.•The efficacy of different rsfMRI data preprocessing pipelines was assessed basedon Ca2+ data. The blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD)-based resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) has been widely used as a non-invasive tool to map brain-wide connectivity architecture. However, the neural basis underpinning the resting-state BOLD signal remains elusive. In this study, we combined simultaneous calcium-based fiber photometry with rsfMRI in awake animals to examine the relationship of the BOLD signal and spiking activity at the resting state. We observed robust couplings between calcium and BOLD signals in the dorsal hippocampus as well as other distributed areas in the default mode network (DMN), suggesting that the calcium measurement can reliably predict the rsfMRI signal. In addition, using the calcium signal recorded as the ground truth, we assessed the impacts of different rsfMRI data preprocessing pipelines on functional connectivity mapping. Overall, our results provide important evidence suggesting that spiking activity measured by the calcium signal plays a key role in the neural mechanism of resting-state BOLD signal.