Brain Activity and Blood flow Velocity Changes: A Transcranial Doppler Study

Abstract

Seventy volunteers with no sign of cerebral vascular disease performed two series of 6 cognitive tasks, 3 of which are assumed to be processed predominantly by the left and 3 by the right hemisphere. During the tasks, blood flow velocity changes in the middle cerebral artery were recorded every 3 seconds by the transcranial Doppler method (TCD). All tasks increased blood flow velocities in both MCAs, but only the "right hemispheric" tasks resulted in a statistically significantly higher increase than the left MCA. The time course of velocity changes reflects the increase in blood flow caused by increased brain metabolism during brain activity. During stimulation of the right and/or left visual field, blood flow velocity changes were recorded in the P2-segment of the corresponding hemisphere. In 76 volunteers, the study was performed. The time course of velocity changes was similar to that in the MCA study. Velocity rose as a result of increasing complexity of the visual stimulus. The velocity changes are similar to blood flow increases reported in the literature and rose by as much 2 to 25%. Assuming that the diameter of the large branches of the circle of Willis does not change during mental activity, blood flow velocity changes reflect blood flow volume changes. With the TCD method the close relationship among brain activity, metabolism, and blood flow can be reliably investigated. The high spatial resolution enables information to be given about the onset of autoregulation.