Shoulder Apprehension Impacts Large-Scale Functional Brain Networks

BACKROUND AND PURPOSE: Shoulder apprehension is defined as anxiety and resistance in patients with a history of anterior glenohumeral instability. It remains unclear whether shoulder apprehension is the result of true recurrent instability or a memorized subjective sensation. We tested whether visual presentation of apprehension videos modifies functional brain networks associated with motor resistance and anxiety. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study includes 15 consecutive right-handed male patients with shoulder apprehension (9 with right shoulder apprehension, 6 with left shoulder apprehension; 27.5 +/- 6.4 years) and 10 healthy male right-handed age-matched control participants (29.0 +/- 4.7 years). Multimodal MR imaging included 1) functional connectivity tensorial independent component analysis, 2) task-related general linear model analysis during visual stimulation of movies showing typical apprehension movements vs control videos, 3) voxel-based morphometry analysis of GM, and 4) tract-based spatial statistics analysis of WM. RESULTS: Patients with shoulder apprehension had significant (P < .05 corrected) increase in task-correlated functional connectivity, notably in the bilateral primary sensory-motor area and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and, to a lesser degree, the bilateral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (+148% right, +144% left). Anticorrelated functional connectivity decreased in the higher-level visual and parietal areas (-185%). There were no potentially confounding structural changes in GM or WM. CONCLUSIONS: Shoulder apprehension induces specific reorganization in apprehension-related functional connectivity of the primary sensory-motor areas (motor resistance), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (cognitive control of motor behavior), and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula (anxiety and emotional regulation).

Dysmaturation Observed as Altered Hippocampal Functional Connectivity at Rest Is Associated With the Emergence of Positive Psychotic Symptoms in Patients With 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

Karin Bortolin, Farnaz Delavari, Maude Schneider, Dimitri Nestor Alice Van De Ville, Daniela Maria Zöller

BACKGROUND: Hippocampal alterations are among the most replicated neuroimaging findings across the psychosis spectrum. Moreover, there is strong translational evidence that preserving the maturation of hippocampal networks in mice models prevents the progression of cognitive deficits. However, the developmental trajectory of hippocampal functional connectivity (HFC) and its contribution to psychosis is not well characterized in the human population. 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) offers a unique model for characterizing early neural correlates of schizophrenia. METHODS: We acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in 242 longitudinally repeated scans from 84 patients with 22q11DS (30 with moderate to severe positive psychotic symptoms) and 94 healthy control subjects in the age span of 6 to 32 years. We obtained bilateral hippocampus to whole-brain functional connectivity and employed a novel longitudinal multivariate approach by means of partial least squares correlation to evaluate the developmental trajectory of HFC across groups. RESULTS: Relative to control subjects, patients with 22q11DS failed to increase HFC with frontal regions such as the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and supplementary motor area. Concurrently, carriers of the deletion had abnormally higher HFC with subcortical dopaminergic areas. Remarkably, this aberrant maturation of HFC was more prominent during midadolescence and was mainly driven by patients exhibiting subthreshold positive psychotic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a critical period of prefrontal cortex & ndash;hippocampal & ndash;striatal circuit dysmaturation, particularly during late adolescence, which in light of current translation evidence could be a target for short-term interventions to potentially achieve long-lasting rescue of circuit dysfunctions associated with psychosis.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC2021

Acute Caffeine Administration Impact On Working Memory-Related Brain Activation And Functional Connectivity In The Elderly: A Bold And Perfusion Mri Study

Sven Haller, David Moser, Dimitri Nestor Alice Van De Ville

In young individuals, caffeine-mediated blockade of adenosine receptors and vasoconstriction has direct repercussions on task-related activations, changes in functional connectivity, as well as global vascular effects. To date, no study has explored the effect of caffeine on brain activation patterns during highly demanding cognitive tasks in the elderly. This prospective, placebo-controlled crossover design comprises 24 healthy elderly individuals (mean age 68.8 +/- 4.0 years, 17 females) performing a 2-back working memory (WM) task in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Analyses include complimentary assessment of task-related activations (general linear model, GLM), functional connectivity (tensorial independent component analysis, TICA), and baseline perfusion (arterial spin labeling). Despite a reduction in whole-brain global perfusion (-22.7%), caffeine-enhanced task-related GLM activation in a local and distributed network is most pronounced in the bilateral striatum and to a lesser degree in the right middle and inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral insula, left superior and inferior parietal lobule as well as in the cerebellum bilaterally. TICA was significantly enhanced (+8.2%) in caffeine versus placebo in a distributed and task-relevant network including the pre-frontal cortex, the supplementary motor area, the ventral premotor cortex and the parietal cortex as well as the occipital cortex (visual stimuli) and basal ganglia. The inverse comparison of placebo versus caffeine had no significant difference. Activation strength of the task-relevant-network component correlated with response accuracy for caffeine yet not for placebo, indicating a selective cognitive effect of caffeine. The present findings suggest that acute caffeine intake enhances WM-related brain activation as well as functional connectivity of blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI in elderly individuals. (c) 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Elsevier2013

Comparison of anterior cingulate vs. insular cortex as targets for real-time fMRI regulation during pain stimulation

Kirsten Emmert, Sven Haller, Dimitri Nestor Alice Van De Ville

Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback allows learning voluntary control over specific brain areas by means of operant conditioning and has been shown to decrease pain perception. To further increase the effect of rt-fMRI neurofeedback on pain, we directly compared two different target regions of the pain network, notably the anterior insular cortex (AIC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Participants for this prospective study were randomly assigned to two age-matched groups of 14 participants each (7 females per group) for AIC and ACC feedback. First, a functional localizer using block-design heat pain stimulation was performed to define the pain-sensitive target region within the AIC or ACC. Second, subjects were asked to down-regulate the BOLD activation in four neurofeedback runs during identical pain stimulation. Data analysis included task-related and functional connectivity analysis. At the behavioral level, pain ratings significantly decreased during feedback vs. localizer runs, but there was no difference between AIC and ACC groups. Concerning neuroimaging, ACC and AIC showed consistent involvement of the caudate nucleus for subjects that learned down-regulation (17/28) in both task-related and functional connectivity analysis. The functional connectivity toward the caudate nucleus is stronger for the ACC while the AIC is more heavily connected to the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Consequently, the ACC and AIC are suitable targets for real-time fMRI neurofeedback during pain perception as they both affect the caudate nucleus, although functional connectivity indicates that the direct connection seems to be stronger with the ACC. Additionally, the caudate, an important area involved in pain perception and suppression, could be a good rt-fMRI target itself. Future studies are needed to identify parameters characterizing successful regulators and to assess the effect of repeated rt-fMRI neurofeedback on pain perception.

Frontiers Research Foundation2014