Transfer functions linking neural calcium to single voxel functional ultrasound signal

• Published in: Nature communications 2020-06, Vol.11 (1), p.2954-2954, Article 2954
• Main Authors: Aydin, Ali-Kemal, Haselden, William D., Goulam Houssen, Yannick, Pouzat, Christophe, Rungta, Ravi L., Demené, Charlie, Tanter, Mickael, Drew, Patrick J., Charpak, Serge, Boido, Davide
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 14/34; 14/69; 631/114/1305; 631/114/1564; 631/114/794; 631/1647/245/1859; 631/1647/245/2226; 64/110; 64/60; Activation; Applications; Blood; Blood flow; Blood volume; Blotting, Western; Brain; Calcium; Calcium - metabolism; Calcium signalling; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Cell Survival - physiology; Cerebral blood flow; Change detection; Coupling; Cytoskeletal Proteins; Ebolavirus - genetics; Ebolavirus - pathogenicity; Functionals; HEK293 Cells; HeLa Cells; Host Microbial Interactions - physiology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immunoprecipitation; Interferons - metabolism; Kinetics; Learning algorithms; Life Sciences; Machine learning; multidisciplinary; Neurobiology; Neuroimaging; Neurons - metabolism; Neurons and Cognition; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Statistics; Stimulation; Transfer functions; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography; Ultrasound
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16774-9

Functional ultrasound imaging (fUS) is an emerging technique that detects changes of cerebral blood volume triggered by brain activation. Here, we investigate the extent to which fUS faithfully reports local neuronal activation by combining fUS and two-photon microscopy (2PM) in a co-registered single voxel brain volume. Using a machine-learning approach, we compute and validate transfer functions between dendritic calcium signals of specific neurons and vascular signals measured at both microscopic (2PM) and mesoscopic (fUS) levels. We find that transfer functions are robust across a wide range of stimulation paradigms and animals, and reveal a second vascular component of neurovascular coupling upon very strong stimulation. We propose that transfer functions can be considered as reliable quantitative reporters to follow neurovascular coupling dynamics. Neurovascular coupling refers to changes in cerebral blood flow in response to neuronal stimulation, but to what extent this change can report neuronal activation is not known. Here the authors develop transfer functions between neural calcium signals and functional ultrasound changes in blood volume in co-registered single voxel brain volumes.