Saturation of Visually Evoked BOLD Response During Carbogen Inhalation

Claudine J. Gauthier^1,2, Ccile Madjar², Richard D. Hoge^1,2

Oxidative metabolism can be estimated from the BOLD signal following a calibration manipulation to determine a factor M. M is the maximum possible BOLD signal change. Carbogen inhalation was used here with intense visual stimulation to test whether an asymptote in BOLD signal could be reached. Results show a convergence of percent BOLD changes around 9% in visual cortex for 10% carbogen alone, and 5-10% carbogen breathing plus visual stimulation. The diminishing incremental response from visual stimulation at high carbogen concentrations suggests that these manipulations approach BOLD levels close to the saturation plateau.