Co-variations of cerebral blood volume and single neurons discharge during resting state and visual cognitive tasks in non-human primates

To better understand how the brain allows primates to perform various sets of tasks, the ability to simultaneously record neural activity at multiple spatiotemporal scales is challenging but necessary. However, the contribution of single-unit activities (SUAs) to neurovascular activity remains to be fully understood. Here, we combine functional ultrasound imaging of cerebral blood volume (CBV) and SUA recordings in visual and fronto-medial cortices of behaving macaques. We show that SUA provides a significant estimate of the neurovascular response below the typical fMRI spatial resolution of 2mm3. Furthermore, our results also show that SUAs and CBV activities are statistically uncorrelated during the resting state but correlate during tasks. These results have important implications for interpreting functional imaging findings while one constructs inferences of SUA during resting state or tasks. [Display omitted] •Co-recording of single-unit activity (SUA) and vascular activity in awake, behaving primates•SUA provides a local contribution to cerebral blood volume (CBV) variations•SUA and CBV are uncorrelated during resting state but correlate during behavioral tasks Claron et al. achieve co-recording of single-unit activity (SUA) and functional ultrasound imaging in the brain of awake, behaving macaques. Their results show that SUA provides a local contribution to cerebral blood volume variations during tasks but not during resting state.