High-Resolution CBV-fMRI Allows Mapping of Laminar Activity and Connectivity of Cortical Input and Output in Human M1

Laurentius Huber*, Daniel A Handwerker, David C Jangraw, Gang Chen, Andrew Hall, Carsten Stüber, Javier Gonzalez-Castillo, Dimo Ivanov, Sean Marrett, Maria Guidi, Jozien Goense, Benedikt A Poser, Peter A Bandettini

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Layer-dependent fMRI allows measurements of information flow in cortical circuits, as afferent and efferent connections terminate in different cortical layers. However, it is unknown to what level human fMRI is specific and sensitive enough to reveal directional functional activity across layers. To answer this question, we developed acquisition and analysis methods for blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) and cerebral-blood-volume (CBV)-based laminar fMRI and used these to discriminate four different tasks in the human motor cortex (M1). In agreement with anatomical data from animal studies, we found evidence for somatosensory and premotor input in superficial layers of M1 and for cortico-spinal motor output in deep layers. Laminar resting-state fMRI showed directional functional connectivity of M1 with somatosensory and premotor areas. Our findings demonstrate that CBV-fMRI can be used to investigate cortical activity in humans with unprecedented detail, allowing investigations of information flow between brain regions and outperforming conventional BOLD results that are often buried under vascular biases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1253–1263
Number of pages18
JournalNeuron
Volume96
Issue number6
Early online date7 Dec 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Dec 2017

Keywords

  • MOTOR CORTEX
  • FUNCTIONAL MRI
  • HUMAN-BRAIN
  • 7 T
  • VISUAL-CORTEX
  • SPIN-ECHO
  • BOLD
  • SIGNAL
  • ACTIVATION
  • RESPONSES

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