Simultaneous fMRI and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry bridges evoked oxygen and neurotransmitter dynamics across spatiotemporal scales
Lindsay R Walton,
Matthew Verber,
Sung-Ho Lee,
Tzu-Hao Harry Chao,
R. Mark Wightman,
Yen-Yu Ian Shih
Affiliations
Lindsay R Walton
Center for Animal MRI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Corresponding authors.
Matthew Verber
Center for Animal MRI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America
Sung-Ho Lee
Center for Animal MRI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America
Tzu-Hao Harry Chao
Center for Animal MRI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America
R. Mark Wightman
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America
Yen-Yu Ian Shih
Center for Animal MRI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Corresponding authors.
The vascular contributions of neurotransmitters to the hemodynamic response are gaining more attention in neuroimaging studies, as many neurotransmitters are vasomodulatory. To date, well-established electrochemical techniques that detect neurotransmission in high magnetic field environments are limited. Here, we propose an experimental setting enabling simultaneous fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) and blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic imaging (BOLD fMRI) to measure both local tissue oxygen and dopamine responses, and global BOLD changes, respectively. By using MR-compatible materials and the proposed data acquisition schemes, FSCV detected physiological analyte concentrations with high temporal resolution and spatial specificity inside of a 9.4 T MRI bore. We found that tissue oxygen and BOLD correlate strongly, and brain regions that encode dopamine amplitude differences can be identified via modeling simultaneously acquired dopamine FSCV and BOLD fMRI time-courses. This technique provides complementary neurochemical and hemodynamic information and expands the scope of studying the influence of local neurotransmitter release over the entire brain.
