The specificity of hemodynamic signals detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to neuronal activity is complicated by the neurovascular coupling. To investigate the fidelity of fMRI in differentiating the neuronal activity across cortical layers, we mapped the laminar orientation preference maps in the cat visual cortex by using high-resolution cerebral blood volume weighted (wCBV) fMRI and single-unit neuronal action potential recording, respectively. The strong correlation between wCBV percent change and spike firing rate indicates that wCBV fMRI with sufficient spatial resolution could distinguish the differences of neural activities across layers but with a reduced sharpness.
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