Abstract

Understanding cerebrovascular responses to hyperoxia and hypercapnia is important for investigating exogenous regulation of cerebral hemodynamics. We characterized gas-induced vascular changes in the brains of anesthetized healthy rats using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while the rats inhaled 100% O(2) (hyperoxia) and 5% CO(2) (hypercapnia). We used echo planar imaging (EPI), arterial spin labeling (ASL), and intravascular superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) to quantify vascular responses as measured by blood oxygenation level dependence (BOLD), cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), microvascular volume (MVV), and vessel size index (VSI) in multiple brain regions. Hyperoxia resulted in a statistically significant increase in BOLD-weighted MRI signal and significant decrease in CBF and CBV (P