Distinct spatial organization of human hippocampal perfusion and microvascular pulsatility across age
- 1University of Southern California
Abstract
Arterial pulsation can modulate neuronal activity through mechanosensitive pathways in mice, but whether vascular pulsatility is similarly related to neural organization in humans remains unclear. Here, using 7T MRI in 35 young and older adults, we mapped cerebral perfusion and microvascular volumetric pulsatility index (mvPI) across the unfolded hippocampus and integrated these measures with histological, electrophysiological, and transcriptomic reference maps. Perfusion and mvPI exhibited distinct spatial organization and age-related differences. In young adults, perfusion preferentially corresponded to parvalbumin-interneuron density and beta/gamma distribution, whereas mvPI was associated with theta-band distribution. A number of associations detected in young adults were not detected in the older adults maps. Spectral simulations showed qualitative similarity to heartbeat-related phase resetting as one possible explanation for the mvPI-theta relationship, while spatial transcriptomics revealed perivascular enrichment of PIEZO2, a candidate mediator of vascular mechanotransduction. Together, these findings establish perfusion and tissue-level pulsatility as distinct dimensions of human hippocampal vascular organization and provide a framework for investigating their relationships with neural dynamics across aging.
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BibTeX
@misc{guo2026distinct,
title = {{Distinct spatial organization of human hippocampal perfusion and microvascular pulsatility across age}},
author = {F. Guo and A. J. Kim and C. Zhao and T. Dong and Z. Liu and Z. Yang and K. Jann and X. Shao and N. Jahanshad and M. Mather and D. J. Wang},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.15.759438},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759438v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Distinct spatial organization of human hippocampal perfusion and microvascular pulsatility across age
AU - F. Guo
AU - A. J. Kim
AU - C. Zhao
AU - T. Dong
AU - Z. Liu
AU - Z. Yang
AU - K. Jann
AU - X. Shao
AU - N. Jahanshad
AU - M. Mather
AU - D. J. Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.15.759438
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759438v1
AB - Arterial pulsation can modulate neuronal activity through mechanosensitive pathways in mice, but whether vascular pulsatility is similarly related to neural organization in humans remains unclear. Here, using 7T MRI in 35 young and older adults, we mapped cerebral perfusion and microvascular volumetric pulsatility index (mvPI) across the unfolded hippocampus and integrated these measures with histological, electrophysiological, and transcriptomic reference maps. Perfusion and mvPI exhibited distinct spatial organization and age-related differences. In young adults, perfusion preferentially corresponded to parvalbumin-interneuron density and beta/gamma distribution, whereas mvPI was associated with theta-band distribution. A number of associations detected in young adults were not detected in the older adults maps. Spectral simulations showed qualitative similarity to heartbeat-related phase resetting as one possible explanation for the mvPI-theta relationship, while spatial transcriptomics revealed perivascular enrichment of PIEZO2, a candidate mediator of vascular mechanotransduction. Together, these findings establish perfusion and tissue-level pulsatility as distinct dimensions of human hippocampal vascular organization and provide a framework for investigating their relationships with neural dynamics across aging.
ER -