Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is routinely measured as a predictor of stroke in people with a high risk of ischemic attack. Neuroimaging techniques such as emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and transcranial doppler are frequently used to measure CVR even though each technique has its limitations. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), also based on the principle of neurovascular coupling, is relatively inexpensive, portable, and allows for the quantification of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration changes at a high temporal resolution. This study examines the relationship between age and CVR using fNIRS in 45 young healthy adult participants aged 18–41 years (6 females, 26.64 ± 5.49 years) performing a simple breath holding task. Eighteen of the 45 participants were scanned again after a week to evaluate the feasibility of fNIRS in reliably measuring CVR. Results indicate (a) a negative relationship between age and hemodynamic measures of breath holding task in the sensorimotor cortex of 45 individuals and (b) widespread positive coactivation within medial sensorimotor regions and between medial sensorimotor regions with supplementary motor area and prefrontal cortex during breath holding with increasing age. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) indicated only a low to fair/good reliability of the breath hold hemodynamic measures from sensorimotor and prefrontal cortices. However, the average hemodynamic response to breath holding from the two sessions were found to be temporally and spatially in correspondence. Future improvements in the sensitivity and reliability of fNIRS metrics could facilitate fNIRS-based assessment of cerebrovascular function as a potential clinical tool.

经常将脑血管反应性（CVR）作为缺血性发作高风险人群中风的预测指标。尽管每种技术都有其局限性，但通常使用放射线断层扫描，磁共振成像和经颅多普勒等神经影像技术来测量CVR。同样基于神经血管耦合原理的功能性近红外光谱法（fNIRS）相对便宜，便于携带，并允许在高时间分辨率下定量测定氧和脱氧血红蛋白的浓度变化。这项研究使用fNIRS检验了年龄在45岁，年龄在18-41岁之间的年轻健康成年人参与者（6名女性，26.64±5.49岁）中执行简单屏气任务的年龄与CVR的关系。一周后再次对45位参与者中的18位进行了扫描，以评估fNIRS在可靠测量CVR中的可行性。结果表明（a）45位个体的感觉运动皮层年龄与血液动力学测量值之间的负相关关系，以及（b）屏气过程中，内侧感觉运动区域内以及带有补充运动区域和前额叶皮层的内侧感觉运动区域之间广泛的积极共激活随着年龄的增长。类内相关系数（ICC）仅表示感觉运动和前额叶皮层的屏气血流动力学测量值低至中等/良好可靠性。然而，发现两个时段对屏气的平均血液动力学反应在时间和空间上是对应的。