Neurovascular Coupling Relationship Between Spontaneous EEG and CBF Responses Is Sensitive to Anesthesia Depth

Xiao Liu^1,2, Xiao-Hong Zhu¹, Yi Zhang¹, Wei Chen^1,2

In this study, hemodynamic response function (HRF) was estimated by deconvolution to describe the neurovascular coupling between spontaneous CBF and EEG signals in the rat brain acquired simultaneously under two anesthesia depths (1.8 and 2.0% isoflurane). We found that a small change in anesthesia depth by increasing 0.2% isoflurane could significantly alter HRF in two aspects: lengthening latency-to-peak and broadening dispersion. This result indicates that the neurovascular coupling quantified by HRF is sensitive to anesthesia depth and this phenomenon should have implication in quantifying the resting brain connectivity and stimulus-evoked BOLD in the anesthetized brains and understanding their underlying neurophysiology basis.