Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Fenster Hall 607, 323 Dr.MLK Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Newark, NJ, USA.
Brain Topogr. 2021 Mar;34(2):154-166. doi: 10.1007/s10548-021-00818-4. Epub 2021 Feb 5.
Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is routinely measured as a predictor of stroke in people with a high risk of ischemic attack. Neuroimaging techniques such as emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and transcranial doppler are frequently used to measure CVR even though each technique has its limitations. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), also based on the principle of neurovascular coupling, is relatively inexpensive, portable, and allows for the quantification of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration changes at a high temporal resolution. This study examines the relationship between age and CVR using fNIRS in 45 young healthy adult participants aged 18-41 years (6 females, 26.64 ± 5.49 years) performing a simple breath holding task. Eighteen of the 45 participants were scanned again after a week to evaluate the feasibility of fNIRS in reliably measuring CVR. Results indicate (a) a negative relationship between age and hemodynamic measures of breath holding task in the sensorimotor cortex of 45 individuals and (b) widespread positive coactivation within medial sensorimotor regions and between medial sensorimotor regions with supplementary motor area and prefrontal cortex during breath holding with increasing age. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) indicated only a low to fair/good reliability of the breath hold hemodynamic measures from sensorimotor and prefrontal cortices. However, the average hemodynamic response to breath holding from the two sessions were found to be temporally and spatially in correspondence. Future improvements in the sensitivity and reliability of fNIRS metrics could facilitate fNIRS-based assessment of cerebrovascular function as a potential clinical tool.
大脑血管反应性（CVR）通常被用作预测具有缺血性发作高风险人群中风的指标。神经影像学技术，如发射断层扫描、磁共振成像和经颅多普勒，经常被用于测量 CVR，尽管每种技术都有其局限性。基于神经血管耦联原理的功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）技术相对便宜、便携，并且可以在高时间分辨率下定量测量氧合和脱氧血红蛋白浓度的变化。本研究使用 fNIRS 检查了 45 名年龄在 18-41 岁（6 名女性，26.64±5.49 岁）的年轻健康成年参与者的年龄与 CVR 之间的关系，这些参与者在执行简单的屏气任务。其中 18 名参与者在一周后再次接受扫描，以评估 fNIRS 可靠测量 CVR 的可行性。结果表明：(a) 在 45 个人的感觉运动皮层中，年龄与屏气任务的血液动力学测量值呈负相关；(b) 随着年龄的增长，在屏气过程中，内侧感觉运动区域之间以及内侧感觉运动区域与辅助运动区和前额叶皮层之间广泛存在正协同激活。组内相关系数（ICC）表明，来自感觉运动和前额叶皮层的屏气血液动力学测量值的可靠性仅为低到中等/良好。然而，从两个会话中发现，屏气的平均血液动力学反应在时间和空间上是一致的。未来提高 fNIRS 指标的敏感性和可靠性，可以促进基于 fNIRS 的脑血管功能评估作为一种潜在的临床工具。
