The link between perivascular space and resting-state functional connectivity in cognitive healthy population

Motivation: Perivascular space (PVS) is a pial-lined, fluid-filled structure that accompany penetrating arteries or draining veins from the cerebral cortex. PVS occupies a large portion of the cerebral tissue. The effect of PVS on the brain's functional connectivity has not yet been fully investigated. Goal(s): In particular, our goal was to determine the link between PVS, sleep and brain functional connectivity. Approach: We utilized the structural MRI and rs-fMRI data from the HCP-Aging dataset. Results: Results demonstrated that BG-PVS volume fraction was positively associated with FC of the right anterior medial temporal gyrus and a cluster in temporal regions. Impact: These findings suggest that PVS morphology may reflect changes in neural connectivity involved in memory-related processing and open a new PVS research field (structure to function) for investigation.