Hippocampal functional connectivity using dynamic ASL and BOLD

Motivation: Measuring hippocampus (HPC) resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with BOLD fMRI is challenging because of BOLD artifact in this region. Dynamic arterial spin labeling (DASL) can detect large-scale brain networks with fewer artifacts than BOLD. However, HPC rsFC with DASL and BOLD has not been compared, limiting clinical and research applications. Goal(s): We compared HPC rsFC using DASL and BOLD acquisitions. Approach: Thirteen healthy adults were scanned using DASL and BOLD. HPC rsFC maps were calculated using seed-based rsFC. Results: Compared to BOLD, DASL detected HPC connectivity with larger extent of default mode network (DMN) using a much lower p-value threshold. Impact: The HPC rsFC of DASL and the extent to which it accurately reflects brain function are critical for its applications in both clinical and neuroscience research, especially for many neurological and psychiatric disorders.