A comparison of continuous-wave fNIRS with quantitative fMRI-derived indices of brain function in the visual cortex
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Neurosciences, Imaging, and Clinical Sciences, University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi 11, Chieti, 66100, Italy; Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB), University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi 11, Chieti, 66100, Italy
- 2Multimodal Functional Imaging Lab, Department of Physics and Concordia School of Health, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, H4B 1R6, Canada
- 3Department of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 2, Naples, 80138, Italy
- 4Department of Neurosciences, Imaging, and Clinical Sciences, University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi 11, Chieti, 66100, Italy; Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB), University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi 11, Chieti, 66100, Italy; UdA-TechLab, Research Center, University G. D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara, Italy
- 5Department of Engineering and Geology, University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro 42, Pescara, 65127, Italy
Abstract
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) both rely on the phenomenon of neurovascular coupling (NVC) to probe brain activity through their sensitivity to cerebral blood oxygenation. However, the relationship between fNIRS chromophores (oxy- and deoxyhaemoglobin, HbO and HbR), and fMRI (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent and Arterial Spin Labeling, BOLD and ASL) measurements, and whether this relationship remains consistent across subjects and physiological conditions, has only been partially characterised. We acquired concurrent continuous-wave fNIRS and gradient-echo (GE) and spin-echo (SE) BOLD-ASL fMRI in healthy adults (n = 10) during visual stimulation. By applying calibrated fMRI methodology, we examined the relationships between fNIRS-derived haemoglobin modulations and fMRI-derived modulations in macrovascular (GE-) and microvascular (SE-) BOLD signals, cerebral blood flow (CBF), and oxygen metabolism (CMRO₂). Group-level results showed strong temporal cross-modal agreement, with HbO and HbR tightly mirroring all fMRI signal time-courses (|r| > 0.8). A quantitative analysis of trial-by-trial modulations revealed distinct state-dependent behaviours: HbO maintained a stable relationship with the fMRI-derived metrics across conditions, whereas cross-modal relationships between HbR and fMRI-derived metrics substantially strengthened at higher flow-metabolism coupling (FMC), the ratio of CBF to CMRO₂ change, an index of the strength of NVC. Both HbO and HbR were more strongly associated with GE-BOLD than with SE-BOLD. These findings provide a rigorous physiological grounding for fNIRS signal interpretation, demonstrating its utility as a surrogate marker for specific haemodynamic and metabolic parameters.
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BibTeX
@article{rocco2026comparison,
title = {{A comparison of continuous-wave fNIRS with quantitative fMRI-derived indices of brain function in the visual cortex}},
author = {Giulia Rocco and Lucie Chalet and Elizabeth J. Fear and Sara Pomante and Francesca Graziano and Davide Di Censo and Manuela Carriero and Édouard Delaire and Fabrizio Esposito and Mauro Gianni Perrucci and Cosimo Del Gratta and David Perpetuini and Richard G. Wise and Antonio M. Chiarelli},
journal = {NeuroImage},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122290},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122290},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A comparison of continuous-wave fNIRS with quantitative fMRI-derived indices of brain function in the visual cortex
AU - Giulia Rocco
AU - Lucie Chalet
AU - Elizabeth J. Fear
AU - Sara Pomante
AU - Francesca Graziano
AU - Davide Di Censo
AU - Manuela Carriero
AU - Édouard Delaire
AU - Fabrizio Esposito
AU - Mauro Gianni Perrucci
AU - Cosimo Del Gratta
AU - David Perpetuini
AU - Richard G. Wise
AU - Antonio M. Chiarelli
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - NeuroImage
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122290
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122290
AB - Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) both rely on the phenomenon of neurovascular coupling (NVC) to probe brain activity through their sensitivity to cerebral blood oxygenation. However, the relationship between fNIRS chromophores (oxy- and deoxyhaemoglobin, HbO and HbR), and fMRI (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent and Arterial Spin Labeling, BOLD and ASL) measurements, and whether this relationship remains consistent across subjects and physiological conditions, has only been partially characterised. We acquired concurrent continuous-wave fNIRS and gradient-echo (GE) and spin-echo (SE) BOLD-ASL fMRI in healthy adults (n = 10) during visual stimulation. By applying calibrated fMRI methodology, we examined the relationships between fNIRS-derived haemoglobin modulations and fMRI-derived modulations in macrovascular (GE-) and microvascular (SE-) BOLD signals, cerebral blood flow (CBF), and oxygen metabolism (CMRO₂). Group-level results showed strong temporal cross-modal agreement, with HbO and HbR tightly mirroring all fMRI signal time-courses (|r| > 0.8). A quantitative analysis of trial-by-trial modulations revealed distinct state-dependent behaviours: HbO maintained a stable relationship with the fMRI-derived metrics across conditions, whereas cross-modal relationships between HbR and fMRI-derived metrics substantially strengthened at higher flow-metabolism coupling (FMC), the ratio of CBF to CMRO₂ change, an index of the strength of NVC. Both HbO and HbR were more strongly associated with GE-BOLD than with SE-BOLD. These findings provide a rigorous physiological grounding for fNIRS signal interpretation, demonstrating its utility as a surrogate marker for specific haemodynamic and metabolic parameters.
SN - 1095-9572
SN - 1053-8119
ER -