White matter cerebral blood flow is inversely correlated with structural and functional connectivity in the human brain

White matter provides anatomic connections among brain regions and has received increasing attention in understanding brain intrinsic networks and neurological disorders. Despite significant progresses made in characterizing the white matter's structural properties using post-mortem techniques and in vivo diffusion-tensor-imaging (DTI) methods, its physiology remains poorly understood. In the present study, cerebral blood flow (CBF) of the white matter was investigated on a fiber tract-specific basis using MRI (n= 10, 25-33 years old). It was found that CBF in the white matter varied considerably, up to a factor of two between fiber groups. Furthermore, a paradoxically inverse correlation was observed between white matter CBF and structural and functional connectivities (P< 0.001). Fiber tracts that had a higher CBF tended to have a lower fractional anisotropy in water diffusion, and the gray matter terminals connected to the tract also tended to have a lower temporal synchrony in resting-state BOLD signal fluctuation. These findings suggest a clear association between white matter perfusion and gray matter activity, but the nature of this relationship requires further investigations given that they are negatively, rather than positively, correlated.