BOLD signal in no task (“resting state”) fMRIYOUTUBE, ZEUS CHIRIPAThe relevance and reliability of blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) data have been hotly debated for years, not least because it is still unclear what aspects of brain activity the technique is picking up. “In many ways, this would seem to be an unacceptable method for neuroscience,” said Ed Bullmore from the University of Cambridge, at a Royal Society-organized gathering of neuroscients late last month. “But if you’re interested in humans, there isn’t much of a choice.” Bullmore and colleagues had convened in Buckinghamshire, U.K., to discuss what, exactly, BOLD fMRI results can tell us.
“What we do know, of course, is what MRI measures,” said Robert Turner, director emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. MRI measures the magnetization of hydrogen protons in water molecules excited by pulses of radio waves that lead their spins to temporarily align. “Over the next few tens of milliseconds,” Turner noted, “their orientations fan out again, and the magnetization we measure will quickly decrease.”
But what can this tell us about brain activity?
When hemoglobins—the iron-rich oxygen-carrying proteins in our blood—run out of oxygen, Turner explained, “they become paramagnetic,” disturbing the local magnetic field. This makes the protons spin out of phase more rapidly.” One might think this means BOLD fMRI highlights oxygen consumption by ...
