Challenging neurovascular coupling through complex and variable duration cognitive paradigms: A subcomponent analysis

A similar pattern of cerebral blood velocity (CBv) response has been observed for neurovascular coupling (NVC) assessment with cognitive tasks of varying complexity and duration. This lack of specificity could result from parallel changes in arterial blood pressure (BP) and PaCO 2, which could confound the estimates of NVC integrity. Healthy participants ( n  = 16) underwent recordings at rest (5 min sitting) and during randomized paradigms of different complexity (naming words (NW) beginning with P-, R-, V- words and serial subtractions (SS) of 100–2, 100–7, 1000–17, with durations of 5, 30 and 60 s). Bilateral CBv (middle cerebral arteries, transcranial Doppler), end-tidal CO 2 (EtCO 2, capnography), blood pressure (BP, Finapres) and heart rate (HR, ECG) were recorded continuously. The bilateral CBv response to all paradigms was classified under objective criteria to select only responders, then the repeated data were averaged between visits. Bilateral CBv change to tasks was decomposed into the relative contributions (subcomponents) of arterial BP (V BP ; neurogenic), critical closing pressure (V CrCP ; metabolic) and resistance area product (V RAP ; myogenic). A temporal effect was demonstrated in bilateral V BP and V RAP during all tasks ( p <0.002), increased V BP early (between 0 and 10 s) and followed by decreases of V RAP late (25–35 s) in the response. V CrCP varied by complexity and duration ( p <0.046). The main contributions to CBv responses to cognitive tasks of different complexity and duration were V BP and V RAP, whilst a smaller contribution from V CrCP would suggest sensitivity to metabolic demands. Further studies are needed to assess the influence of different paradigms, ageing and cerebrovascular conditions.