VASO stands for vascular space occupancy, a technique used in fMRI to measure changes in cerebral blood volume.

fMRI measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow and blood volume in response to neuronal activity.

What role do auditory stimuli play in this study?

Auditory stimuli are used to activate the auditory cortex, allowing researchers to measure corresponding changes in blood volume.

Why is it important to suppress blood signals?

Suppressing blood signals helps isolate the signals from surrounding tissue, enhancing the detection of neuronal activity.

What are the implications of this research?

This research provides insights into the metabolic demands of brain regions during auditory processing, which can inform future studies on brain function.

Measuring Cerebral Blood Volume in the Auditory Cortex Using Vascular Space Occupancy

JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments

Neuroscience

0 views • 1:21 min • May 29th, 2025

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Position a human participant’s head within the head coil of a functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, system.

Employ vascular space occupancy or VASO, a technique to measure changes in cerebral blood volume, or CBV, the blood volume within the brain.

Begin by applying an inversion recovery pulse to suppress signals from blood, allowing only signals from the surrounding tissue within the region to be detected.

Next, use MRI-compatible earbuds to deliver auditory stimuli.

The stimuli reach the auditory cortex, the brain region responsible for processing auditory information, and stimulate the neurons.

The stimulated neurons increase their metabolic oxygen demand, prompting an influx of oxygenated blood and increasing blood volume.

The rise in CBV dilates the blood vessels, occupying a greater proportion of the region and reducing the relative contribution of tissue signals.

Detect the decrease in tissue signals, which reflects increased neuronal activity in the stimulated auditory cortex.