Key result
Bidirectional alterations in cortical temperature profoundly modulated sensory-evoked neural and vascular responses in a non-linear manner, with brain cooling delaying neurovascular coupling and elevated temperatures inducing a distinct low-frequency hemodynamic oscillation.
Why the study?
Much remains unknown regarding neurovascular coupling in health and disease, with only recent recognition of its close interplay with brain thermodynamics.
Bidirectional modulation of brain temperature profoundly alters neurovascular coupling, with hypothermia causing delayed vasodilation and transient hypoxia, and hyperthermia inducing low-frequency hemodynamic oscillations, which has implications for interpreting functional neuroimaging and brain-temperature targeted therapies.
Requires caution interpreting functional imaging during brain temperature shifts; leaves open translation to human therapies.
Neurovascular coupling (NVC) is a mechanism that, amongst other known and latent critical functions, ensures activated brain regions are adequately supplied with oxygen and glucose. This biological phenomenon underpins non-invasive perfusion-related neuroimaging techniques and recent reports have implicated NVC impairment in several neurodegenerative disorders. Yet, much remains unknown regarding NVC in health and disease, and only recently has there been burgeoning recognition of a close interplay with brain thermodynamics. Accordingly, we developed a novel multi-modal approach to systematically modulate cortical temperature and interrogate the spatiotemporal dynamics of sensory-evoked NVC. We show that changes in cortical temperature profoundly and intricately modulate NVC, with low temperatures associated with diminished oxygen delivery, and high temperatures inducing a distinct vascular oscillation. These observations provide novel insights into the relationship between NVC and brain thermodynamics, with important implications for brain-temperature related therapies, functional biomarkers of elevated brain temperature, and in-vivo methods to study neurovascular coupling.
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Boorman et al. (2022) studied Healthy (animal model) (n=6). Bidirectional modulation of cortical temperature vs. Baseline/core temperature was evaluated on Spatiotemporal neurovascular responses (LFP, MUA, Hbt, pO2). Bidirectional alterations in cortical temperature profoundly modulated sensory-evoked neural and vascular responses in a non-linear manner, with brain cooling delaying neurovascular coupling and elevated temperatures inducing a distinct low-frequency hemodynamic oscillation.
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