Resting state functional connectivity in the human spinal cord

Robert L Barry, Seth A Smith, Adrienne N Dula, John C Gore
2014 eLife  
Functional magnetic resonance imaging using blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast is well established as one of the most powerful methods for mapping human brain function. Numerous studies have measured how low-frequency BOLD signal fluctuations from the brain are correlated between voxels in a resting state, and have exploited these signals to infer functional connectivity within specific neural circuits. However, to date there have been no previous substantiated reports of resting
more » ... state correlations in the spinal cord. In a cohort of healthy volunteers, we observed robust functional connectivity between left and right ventral (motor) horns, and between left and right dorsal (sensory) horns. Our results demonstrate that low-frequency BOLD fluctuations are inherent in the spinal cord as well as the brain, and by analogy to cortical circuits, we hypothesize that these correlations may offer insight into the execution and maintenance of sensory and motor functions both locally and within the cerebrum.
doi:10.7554/elife.02812 pmid:25097248 pmcid:PMC4120419 fatcat:jsjw57m57ndrbpjdph7fvpmeqy