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. 2010 Nov 3;31(1):17–35. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2010.191

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Normal and inverse response to cortical spreading depression (CSD) in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). The upper half of the figure shows the normal hemodynamic response to spreading depolarization (CSD) in the human brain in a patient with aSAH. The subdural opto-electrode strip is shown in the upper right corner. The six traces represent simultaneous recordings of a single spreading depolarization that propagates from opto-electrode 6 (blue) to 4 (red). The calibration bar of trace 4 also applies to trace 3 and that of trace 6 also applies to trace 5. The four upper traces identify the spreading depolarization electrophysiologically. Traces 1 and 2: direct current (DC) electrocorticogram (ECoG) with negative shift of spreading depolarization. Traces 3 and 4: band-pass filtered ECoG (0.5 to 45 Hz) with spreading depression of activity. The spreading depolarization propagates at a rate of about 1.9 mm/min assuming an ideal linear spread along the recording strip. Traces 5 and 6: Normal spreading hyperemia in response to spreading depolarization recorded by laser-Doppler flowmetry as reported previously (Dreier et al, 2009). The lower half of the figure demonstrates the inverse hemodynamic response to spreading depolarization in another patient with aSAH. In this case, the spreading depolarization propagates from opto-electrode 5 (blue) to 3 (red) (propagation rate: 3.1 mm/min). The high-frequency activity is already suppressed by a preceding CSD at electrode 4 (trace 9), when depression of activity is induced by spreading depolarization at electrode 5 (trace 10). Traces 11 and 12: Typical inverse hemodynamic response to spreading depolarization as characterized by a severe decrease of regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in response to the depolarization. Such severe decrease of regional CBF in response to CSD is termed spreading ischemia. The prolonged negative cortical DC shift (compare trace 8) is the defining electrophysiological feature for the inverse hemodynamic response. It indicates that the hypoperfusion is significant enough to produce a mismatch between neuronal energy demand and supply (Dreier et al, 1998, 2009).