Cortical Depth Dependent Temporal Dynamics of the BOLD Response in the Human Brain

Jeroen Cornelis Willem Siero^1,2, Natalia Petridou^1,2, Johannes Marinus Hoogduin^1,2, Peter R. Luijten², Nick F. Ramsey¹

The BOLD specificity to the cortical vascular architecture was investigated in the human brain, at 7T: temporal dynamics (delay and width) of the BOLD response were characterized across cortical depth in the primary motor and visual cortices. Faster and narrower (<4s) BOLD responses corresponded to the deeper gray matter, and these temporal properties increased in an orderly manner toward the cortical surface. A pooling time of oxygenated blood from the deeper cortex to the pial surface was estimated <~1s. These findings matched the known vascular organization across cortical depth, and may lead to new insights in neurovascular coupling in humans.