Increased Blood-brain Barrier Permeability in Response to Caffeine Challenge

Caffeine is a commonly used stimulant drug and is known to change brain physiology by constricting vessels leading to decreased perfusion. We tested the impact of caffeine ingestion on blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability by measuring exchange time using multi-TE ASL technique. Six healthy volunteers were examined for five pre-caffeine sets and six post-caffeine sets. The multi-TE two-compartment model was used to estimate exchange time (Tex) along with perfusion and ATT. We found that perfusion and Tex decreased over time while ATT increased. Decreased Tex indicates that the labelled water transferred at a faster rate reflecting increased BBB permeability.