Journal Article

Low-level carbon monoxide exposure affects BOLD fMRI signal

Abstract

Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) fMRI is a common technique for measuring brain activation that could be affected by low-level carbon monoxide (CO) exposure from e.g. smoking. This study aimed to probe the vulnerability of BOLD fMRI to CO and determine whether it may constitute a significant neuroimaging confound. Low-level (6ppm exhaled) CO effects on BOLD response were assessed in 12 healthy never-smokers on two separate experimental days (CO and air control). fMRI tasks were breath-holds (hypercapnia), visual stimulation and fingertapping. BOLD fMRI response was lower during breath holds, visual stimulation and fingertapping in the CO protocol compared to the air control protocol. Behavioural and physiological measures remained unchanged. We conclude that BOLD fMRI might be vulnerable to changes in baseline CO, and suggest exercising caution when imaging populations exposed to elevated CO levels. Further work is required to fully elucidate the impact on CO on fMRI and its underlying mechanisms.

Attached files

Authors

Bendell, Caroline
Moosavi, Shakeeb H.
Herigstad, Mari

Oxford Brookes departments

Department of Biological and Medical Sciences

Dates

Year of publication: 2019
Date of RADAR deposit: 2019-10-17

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

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Related resources

This RADAR resource is the Accepted Manuscript of Low-level carbon monoxide exposure affects BOLD fMRI response