Comparison of the dependence of blood R₂ and R₂* on oxygen saturation at 1.5 and 4.7 Tesla

Gradient-echo (GRE) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) effects have both intra- and extravascular contributions. To better understand the intravascular contribution in quantitative terms, the spin-echo (SE) and GRE transverse relaxation rates, R₂ and R₂*, of isolated blood were measured as a function of oxygenation in a perfusion system. Over the normal oxygenation saturation range of blood between veins, capillaries, and arteries, the difference between these rates, R′₂ = R₂* - R₂, ranged from 1.5 to 2.1 Hz at 1.5 T and from 26 to 36 Hz at 4.7 T. The blood data were used to calculate the expected intravascular BOLD effects for physiological oxygenation changes that are typical during visual activation. This modeling showed that intravascular ΔR₂* is caused mainly by R₂ relaxation changes, namely 85% and 78% at 1.5T and 4.7T, respectively. The simulations also show that at longer TEs (>70 ms), the intravascular contribution to the percentual BOLD change is smaller at high field than at low field, especially for GRE experiments. At shorter TE values, the opposite is the case. For pure parenchyma, the intravascular BOLD signal changes originate predominantly from venules for all TEs at low field and for short TEs at high field. At longer TEs at high field, the capillary contribution dominates. The possible influence of partial volume contributions with large vessels was also simulated, showing large (two- to threefold) increases in the total intravascular BOLD effect for both GRE and SE.