Possible influences of exercise-intensity-dependent increases in non-cortical hemodynamic variables on NIRS-based neuroimaging analysis during cognitive tasks: Technical note

[PURPOSE]: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provides functional imaging of cortical activations by measuring regional oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin (Hb) changes in the forehead during a cognitive task. There are, however, potential problems regarding NIRS signal contamination by non-cortical hemodynamic (NCH) variables such as skin blood flow, middle cerebral artery blood flow, and heart rate (HR), which are further complicated during acute exercise. It is thus necessary to determine the appropriate post-exercise timing that allows for valid NIRS assessment during a task without any increase in NCH variables. Here, we monitored post-exercise changes in NCH parameters with different intensities of exercise. [METHODS]: Fourteen healthy young participants cycled 30, 50 and 70% of their peak oxygen uptake (Vo(2peak)) for 10 min per intensity, each on different days. Changes in skin blood flow velocity (SBFv), middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity (MCA V(mean)) and HR were monitored before, during, and after the exercise. [RESULTS]: Post-exercise levels of both SBFv and HR in contrast to MCA V(mean) remained high compared to basal levels and the times taken to return to baseline levels for both parameters were delayed (2-8 min after exercise), depending upon exercise intensity. [CONCLUSION]: These results indicate that the delayed clearance of NCH variables of up to 8 min into the post-exercise phase may contaminate NIRS measurements, and could be a limitation of NIRS-based neuroimaging studies.