BOLD signal in gradient-echo images is a combination of macrovascular and microvascular contributions, where the macrovascular component, arising from larger veins draining the activated tissue, is less specific to the site of activation. In this work, we image activation produced in the cervical spinal cord by a noxious thermal stimulus at 7T. We consistently observed activation in the dorsal white matter medial to the dorsal horn, rather than in the gray matter itself. However, due to the relatively straightforward venous architecture of the spinal cord, this observed displaced activation does remain closely related to the true site of neuronal activation.
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