Reproducibility and sensitivity of BOLD-DSC Perfusion MRI within a single session and across multiple imaging sessions

Motivation: Transient hypoxia-induced BOLD-DSC perfusion imaging approach can noninvasively map cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV). However, the reproducibility of this technique has not been previously assessed. Goal(s): We aimed to determine the reproducibility of BOLD-DSC measurements within a single session and across multiple sessions. Approach: The reproducibility of trial-wise BOLD-DSC measurements within each session was assessed for each animal during week 1, while the reproducibility of weekly BOLD-DSC measurements was evaluated across all animals from week 1 to week 4. Results: We found that reproducibility and sensitivity of hypoxia-induced BOLD changes were consistently high in both single and multiple sessions. Impact: The hypoxic challenge induces highly sensitive and reproducible BOLD responses across trials within a single session and consistently across multiple sessions, enabling the longitudinal and repetitive mapping of cerebral perfusion with easily implementable whole-brain BOLD-DSC MRI in mice.