Farahani Asa, Liu Zhen-Qi, Ceballos Eric G, Hansen Justine Y, Wennberg Karl, Zeighami Yashar, Dadar Mahsa, Gauthier Claudine J, Dagher Alain, Misic Bratislav
Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Douglas Mental Health Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
PLoS Biol. 2025 Jul 29;23(7):e3003277. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003277. eCollection 2025 Jul.
Blood perfusion delivers oxygen and nutrients to all cells, making it a fundamental feature of brain organization. How cerebral blood perfusion maps onto micro-, meso- and macro-scale brain structure and function is therefore a key question in neuroscience. Here we analyze pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (ASL) data from 1305 healthy individuals in the HCP Lifespan studies (5-22 and 36-100 years) to reconstruct a high-resolution normative cerebral blood perfusion map. At the cellular and molecular level, cerebral blood perfusion co-localizes with granular layer IV, biological pathways for maintenance of cellular relaxation potential and mitochondrial organization, and with neurotransmitter and neuropeptide receptors involved in vasomodulation. At the regional level, blood perfusion aligns with cortical arealization and is greatest in regions with high metabolic demand and resting-state functional hubs. Looking across individuals, blood perfusion is dynamic throughout the lifespan, follows micro-architectural changes in development, and maps onto individual differences in physiological changes in aging. In addition, we find that cortical atrophy in multiple neurodegenerative diseases (late-onset Alzheimer's disease, TDP-43C, and dementia with Lewy bodies) is most pronounced in regions with lower perfusion, highlighting the utility of perfusion topography as an indicator of transdiagnostic vulnerability. Finally, we show that ASL-derived perfusion can be used to delineate arterial territories in a data-driven manner, providing insights into how the vascular system is linked to human brain function. Collectively, this work highlights how cerebral blood perfusion is central to, and interlinked with, multiple structural and functional systems in the brain.
血液灌注为所有细胞输送氧气和营养物质，使其成为脑组织的一个基本特征。因此，脑血流灌注如何映射到微观、中观和宏观尺度的脑结构与功能上，是神经科学中的一个关键问题。在此，我们分析了人类连接组计划（HCP）寿命研究中1305名健康个体（年龄在5 - 22岁和36 - 100岁之间）的伪连续动脉自旋标记（ASL）数据，以重建高分辨率的正常脑血流灌注图谱。在细胞和分子水平上，脑血流灌注与颗粒层IV、维持细胞舒张电位和线粒体组织的生物学途径以及参与血管调节的神经递质和神经肽受体共定位。在区域水平上，血流灌注与皮质分区一致，在代谢需求高和静息态功能枢纽的区域最大。纵观个体，血流灌注在整个生命周期中是动态变化的，随发育过程中的微观结构变化而变化，并映射到衰老过程中生理变化的个体差异上。此外，我们发现多种神经退行性疾病（晚发性阿尔茨海默病、TDP - 43C和路易体痴呆）中的皮质萎缩在灌注较低的区域最为明显，突出了灌注地形图作为跨诊断易损性指标的实用性。最后，我们表明基于ASL的灌注可用于以数据驱动的方式描绘动脉区域，从而深入了解血管系统与人类脑功能的联系。总的来说，这项工作突出了脑血流灌注在大脑中多个结构和功能系统中的核心地位以及它们之间的相互联系。
