Simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI identifies temporally coupled, spatially structured hemodynamic and metabolic dynamics across wakefulness and NREM sleep
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Sleep entails significant changes in cerebral hemodynamics and metabolism. Yet, the way these processes evolve throughout wakefulness and sleep and their spatiotemporal dependence remain largely unknown. Here, by integrating a novel functional PET technique with simultaneous EEG-fMRI, we reveal a tightly coupled temporal progression of global hemodynamics and metabolism during the descent into NREM sleep, with large hemodynamic fluctuations emerging as global glucose metabolism declines, both of which track EEG arousal dynamics. Furthermore, we identify two distinct network patterns that emerge during NREM sleep: an oscillating, high-metabolism sensorimotor network remains active and dynamic, whereas hemodynamic and metabolic activity in the default-mode network is suppressed. These results elucidate how sleep diminishes awareness while preserving sensory responses, and uncover a complex, alternating balance of neuronal, hemodynamic, and metabolic dynamics in the sleeping brain. This work also demonstrates the potential of EEG-PET-MRI to explore neuro-hemo-metabolic dynamics underlying cognition and arousal in humans.
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: BrightFocus Foundation, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Centre d'Imagerie BioMédicale, National Institutes of Health, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Center for Research Resources
Awards: Combined MRI/PET Imager for Simultaneous Acquisition of PET/MRI Data, Geodesic EEG System, G738160294, High Resolution PET Camera for Brain Imaging, Probing the biophysical basis of large-scale brain dynamics using simultaneous PET/fMRI and EEG/PET/fMRI, G9000052245, G9000066525, Local Neuronal Drive and Neuromodulatory Control of Activity in the Pial Neurovascular Circuit, Multi-modal imaging of the metabolic and neurochemical mechanisms underlying task-evoked negative BOLD signals, Neural Circuit Control of Fluid and Solute Clearance During Sleep, Probing the Biophysical Basis of Large-Scale Brain Dynamics Using Simultaneous PET/fMRI and EEG/PET/fMRI
OpenAlex ID: W4406570533