Functional diffusion MRI has been proposed as an alternative to BOLD fMRI, to offer a more direct read-out of neuronal activation. One aspect of the controversial discussion around functional diffusion is whether these signals follow the neuronal activation more closely. We performed BOLD and diffusion measurements with 250 ms temporal resolution upon sensory stimulation and found similar temporal evolutions for BOLD and diffusion signals. Specifically, both signals slowly returned to baseline after the stimulus. However, diffusion measurements with b=500 showed an earlier onset. We performed heat application to rule out tissue heating as a contribution to functional diffusion signals.
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