Functional Changes in Cerebral Blood Flow & Transit-Time to Somatosensory Stimulation Measured with Dynamic Arterial Spin Labeling

Renata Ferranti Leoni^1,2, Draulio Barros de Araujo², Afonso Costa Silva¹

Compared to other arterial spin labeling (ASL) methods, the dynamic ASL (DASL) technique is an efficient way to obtain information about cerebral hemodynamics. The improved temporal resolution of DASL allows its use in functional MRI experiments. Here we used DASL in combination with somatosensory stimulation in rats, to show that resting cerebral blood flow (CBF), perfusion territories of the major cerebral arteries, transit-times, and both BOLD and CBF responses to functional brain stimulation can be measured simultaneously in a single experiment. This capability makes DASL an efficient and comprehensive technique to investigate the cerebral hemodynamics in scientific and clinical studies.