Karsten Specht1, 2
1 Department of Biological and Medical Psychology , University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; 2Department of Medical Engineering, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
In the recent years, an increasing number of studies includes magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in their functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study protocols, with a specific focus on the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate (Glu). Using a simple motor task, the here presented study combines not only fMRI with MRS, but takes also arterial spin labelling (ASL) perfusion measures into account, and combines this with an analysis of effective connectivity. The results are demonstrating significant changes in the BOLD signal and regional perfusion in response to the motor task. In addition, medium correlations were detected between the connectivity parameter and neurotransmitter concentration.