Significance: The cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) is an important indicator of brain function and pathology. Knowledge about its magnitude is also required for proper interpretation of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal measured with functional MRI. Despite the need for estimating CMRO2, no gold standard exists. Traditionally, the estimation of CMRO2 has been pursued with somewhat indirect approaches combining several different types of measurements with mathematical modeling of the underlying physiological processes. The recent ability to measure the level of oxygen (pO2) in cortex with two-photon resolution in in vivo conditions has provided a more direct way for estimating CMRO2, but has so far only been used to estimate the average CMRO2 close to cortical penetrating arterioles in rats.
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