The moment-to-moment variation of neurovascular coupling in the brain was determined by computing the moment-to-moment turnover of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal (TBOLD) at resting state. Here we show that 1) TBOLD is heritable, 2) its heritability estimates are highly correlated between left and right hemispheres, and 3) the degree of its heritability is determined, in part, by the anatomical proximity of the brain areas involved. We also show that the regional distribution of TBOLD in the cortex is significantly associated with that of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter. These findings establish that TBOLD as a key heritable measure of local cortical brain function captured by neurovascular coupling.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here we show that the sample-to-sample turnover of the resting state fMRI blood-oxygen-level-dependent turnover (TBOLD) is heritable, the left and right hemisphere TBOLD heritabilities are highly correlated, and TBOLD heritability varies among cortical areas. Moreover, we documented that TBOLD is associated with the regional cortical distribution of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter.
Keywords: TBOLD; blood oxygen level dependent turnover; fMRI; heritability; resting-state functional MRI.