EEG AND BOLD-CONTRAST fMRI IN BRAIN Cerebrovascular reactivity, suppression of neuronal activity, global and local brain injury

The purpose of the present study was to gain more insight into the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD)-contrast functional MRI (fMRI) in the brain and its connection to EEG, both in global and local scales of their temporal and spatial relations. BOLD signal changes were studied during hyperventilation (HV) induced EEG reactivity of intermittent rhythmic delta activity (IRDA). The BOLD signal in gray matter decreased 30% more in subjects with IRDA (N = 4) than in controls (N = 4), during the first two minutes of HV. This difference disappeared during IRDA in EEG. BOLD signal changes may provide additional information about dynamic hemodynamic changes relative to HV induced EEG reactivity. BOLD signal changes were investigated during sudden deepening of thiopental anesthesia into EEG burst-suppression level in pigs (N = 5). Positive (6–8%) or negative (-3– -8%) group average BOLD signal changes correlated to the thiopental bolus injection were seen. Positive and negative responses covered 1.6% and 2.3% of the brain voxels, respectively. BOLD signal changes in brain are associated with sudden deepening of thiopental anesthesia into EEG burst-suppression level, but they are spatially inconsistent and scarce. Somatosensory BOLD response was studied in brain before and after globally induced methotrexate (MTX) exposition in pigs (N = 4). After the MTX exposure, reduced (from 2–4% to 0–1%) or negative (-2% to -3%) BOLD responses were detected. Somatosensory BOLD-contrast response shows a slight difference in brain before and after globally induced MTX exposition. An experimental epilepsy model for development of simultaneous EEG and BOLD-contrast fMRI in the localization of epilepsy was developed and tested. Dynamic penicillin induced local epilepsy was applied in deep isoflurane anesthesia in pigs (N = 6). Relatively high (10–20%) and localized BOLD signal increase was found. The dynamic penicillin induced focal epilepsy model in deep isoflurane anesthesia with simultaneous EEG and BOLD-contrast fMRI is feasible for the development of these methods for localization of epileptic focus or foci. In conclusion, with careful experimental design and analysis, BOLD-contrast fMRI with EEG provides a potential tool for monitoring and localising functional changes in the brain.