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From neuron to BOLD: new connections

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 864–866 (2001)Cite this article

A recent paper in Nature directly compares fMRI with simultaneously recorded neural activity in the monkey, yielding new insights into the interpretation of BOLD contrast.

Only ten years ago, the first papers appeared on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast. The explosive world-wide growth of fMRI as a tool for non-invasively visualizing dynamic, localized processes in the human brain that followed reflects the promise that the technique will open up new avenues of research in cognitive neuroscience. The physical basis of BOLD contrast is oxygenation-dependent magnetic susceptibility of hemoglobin. Deoxyhemoglobin is paramagnetic, causing slightly attenuated signal intensity in MRI image voxels containing deoxygenated blood. During brain activation, localized increases in blood flow increase blood oxygenation and consequently reduce deoxyhemoglobin, causing the MRI signal to increase. It is therefore assumed that these localized increases in BOLD contrast reflect increases in neuronal activity.

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Figure 1: Simultaneous neural and hemodynamic recordings from a cortical site showing transient neural response to a pulse stimulus of 24 seconds.
Figure 2: The BOLD response has larger amplitudes than expected from a linear response to a constant input across stimulus durations.
Figure 3: Normalized response amplitude of LFP, multi-unit activity and BOLD against contrast.

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  1. Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Peter A. Bandettini & Leslie G. Ungerleider

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  1. Peter A. Bandettini
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  2. Leslie G. Ungerleider
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Correspondence to Peter A. Bandettini or Leslie G. Ungerleider.

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Bandettini, P., Ungerleider, L. From neuron to BOLD: new connections. Nat Neurosci 4, 864–866 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0901-864

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