The evaluation of central pain mechanisms in patients with microvascular angina

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Leonova ◽  
N Burova ◽  
S Boldueva ◽  
M Demidova ◽  
A Khomulo ◽  
...  

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. In patients with microvascular angina (MVA) besides of chest pain, a high neuronal activity of certain parts of the head (right anterior insula cortex) was revealed, which is not observed in the control in patients with coronary heart disease with coronary atherosclerosis. There is an opinion that the abnormal sensation of pain is caused not by myocardial ischemia, but by a violation of neuronal regulation. Functional MRI (fMRI) is currently a widely used method of functional mapping of the brain. The principle of the method is to register a BOLD signal (blood oxygen level-depended) from voxels (volumetric points) when examining the brain in response to the fulfillment of a task (paradigm). In response to the activation of a particular region of the brain, hemodynamic parameters change in it, which leads to a decrease in the level of deoxyhemoglobin and an increase in the level of oxyhemoglobin. With neuroimaging, this phenomenon is characterized by an increase in signal intensity in a series of T2 * images, the quantitative assessment of which allows indirectly determining the degree of neuronal activation. The study included 11 patients with MVA (3 men, 8 women). The average age of the patients was 61.45 ± 7.80 years. MVA was proved classic criteria and microvascular disorders (perfusion abnormalities) by cardiac PET. Neuroimaging examination included positron emission tomography scanning using 18-fluoro deoxyglucose (18F-FDG PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning using the GO / NOGO two-stimulus experimental paradigm. Throughout the study, fMRI and PET data were obtained for 11 patients with MVA and 20 healthy volunteers (control group). Results In patients with MVA, a decrease in neuronal activity was detected during the execution of actions ("GO" tests) compared with the norm in some brain structures: bilateral anterior and middle cingulate gyrus, additional motor region, postcentral gyrus, left in the islet cortex, on the right in the supramarginal gyrus. When ignoring the second stimulus ("P-P ignore."). A decrease compared with the norm was found bilaterally in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, the wedge, on the right in the cortex of the rolandic operculum and supramarginal gyrus. The detected clusters of decreased neuronal activity when performing actions and ignoring the second stimulus intersect bilaterally in the middle and anterior cingulate cortex, in the left paracentral lobe, and the right supramarginal gyrus. When suppressing actions ("NOGO samples"), no significant differences were found. According to PET, no significant changes in the level of glucose metabolism in patients with MVA compared with the control group were found. Conclusion In patients with MVA, a decrease in neuronal activity was found when performing actions compared to the norm in some brain structures.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha G. Arya ◽  
Steven J. Weissbart ◽  
Sihua Xu ◽  
Rupal Bhavsar ◽  
Hengyi Rao

Purpose. To quantitatively measure changes in cerebral perfusion in select regions of interest in the brain during urinary urgency in women with overactive bladder (OAB) using arterial spin labeling (ASL). Methods. Twelve women with OAB and 10 controls underwent bladder filling and rated urinary urgency (scale 0–10). ASL fMRI scans were performed (1) in the low urgency state after voiding and (2) high urgency state after drinking oral fluids. Absolute regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in select regions of interest was compared between the low and high urgency states. Results. There were no significant differences in rCBF between the low and high urgency states in the control group. In the OAB group, rCBF (mean ± SE, ml/100 g/min) increased by 10–14% from the low to the high urgency state in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (44.56±0.59 versus 49.52±1.49, p<0.05), left ACC (49.29±0.85 versus 54.02±1.46, p<0.05), and left insula (50.46±1.72 versus 54.99±1.09, p<0.05). Whole-brain analysis identified additional areas of activation in the right insula, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and pons/midbrain area. Conclusions. Urinary urgency is associated with quantitative increase in cerebral perfusion in regions of the brain associated with processing emotional response to discomfort.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Liu ◽  
Peihai Zhang ◽  
Junjie Pan ◽  
Zhengjie Li ◽  
Jixin Liu ◽  
...  

Background.Pattern differentiation is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). This study aims to investigate the differences in cerebral activity in ED patients with different TCM patterns.Methods.27 psychogenic ED patients and 27 healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled in this study. Each participant underwent an fMRI scan in resting state. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was used to detect the brain activity changes in ED patients with different patterns.Results.Compared to HS, ED patients showed an increased cerebral activity in bilateral cerebellum, insula, globus pallidus, parahippocampal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and middle cingulate cortex (MCC). Compared to the patients with liver-qi stagnation and spleen deficiency pattern (LSSDP), the patients with kidney-yang deficiency pattern (KDP) showed an increased activity in bilateral brainstem, cerebellum, hippocampus, and the right insula, thalamus, MCC, and a decreased activity in bilateral putamen, medial frontal gyrus, temporal pole, and the right caudate nucleus, OFC, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex (P<0.005).Conclusions.The ED patients with different TCM patterns showed different brain activities. The differences in cerebral activity between LSSDP and KDP were mainly in the emotion-related regions, including prefrontal cortex and cingulated cortex.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
E.A. Varshaver

This article contains a review of research in the realm of neurophysiology of ethnicity. According to this body of research, there are zones of the brain which get active in response to demonstration of ethnic stimuli. Among these zones are amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform face area and others. The article describes the research focused on each of these zones, discusses their weaknesses and projects further research on the crossroads of neurophysiology, cognitive science, psychology and sociology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Yarui Wei ◽  
Ling Mei ◽  
Xiaojing Long ◽  
Xiaoxiao Wang ◽  
Yanjun Diao ◽  
...  

Background. Clinical and experimental data suggest that ultrasound stimulation (US) at acupoints can produce similar effective treatment compared to manual acupuncture (MA). Although the brain activation to MA at acupoints is investigated by numerous studies, the brain activation to US at acupoints remains unclear. Methods. In the present work, we employed task state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the human brain’s activation to US and MA at ST 36 (Zusanli) which is one of the most commonly used acupoints in acupuncture-related studies. 16 healthy subjects underwent US and MA procedures in an interval of more than one week. On-off block design stimulation was used for the recording of fMRI-related brain patterns. Results. Both US and MA at ST 36 produced activations in somatosensory and limbic/paralimbic regions (postcentral gyrus, insula, middle prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex). Only US at ST 36 produced a significant signal increase in the inferior parietal lobule and decrease in the posterior cingulate cortex, whereas MA at ST 36 produced a significant signal increase in the lentiform nucleus and cerebellum. Conclusions. Our results indicate that US may be a possible noninvasive alternative method to MA due to its similar activation patterns.


2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 3575-3577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen D. Davis ◽  
William D. Hutchison ◽  
Andres M. Lozano ◽  
Ronald R. Tasker ◽  
Jonathan O. Dostrovsky

Recent imaging studies have implicated the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in various cognitive functions, including attention. However, until now, there was no evidence for changes in neuronal activity of individual ACC neurons during performance of tasks that require attention and effortful thought. We hypothesized these neurons must exist in the human ACC. In this study, we present electrophysiological data from microelectrode single neuron recordings in the human ACC of neuronal modulation during attention-demanding tasks in 19% of 36 neurons tested. These findings provide the first direct evidence of an influence of a cognitive state on the spontaneous neuronal activity of human ACC neurons.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kael White ◽  
Ethan S. Bromberg-Martin ◽  
Sarah R. Heilbronner ◽  
Kaining Zhang ◽  
Julia Pai ◽  
...  

AbstractHumans and other animals often show a strong desire to know the uncertain rewards their future has in store, even when they cannot use this information to influence the outcome. However, it is unknown how the brain predicts opportunities to gain information and motivates this information-seeking behavior. Here we show that neurons in a network of interconnected subregions of primate anterior cingulate cortex and basal ganglia predict the moment of gaining information about uncertain rewards. Spontaneous increases in their information prediction signals are followed by gaze shifts toward objects associated with resolving uncertainty, and pharmacologically disrupting this network reduces the motivation to seek information. These findings demonstrate a cortico-basal ganglia mechanism responsible for motivating actions to resolve uncertainty by seeking knowledge about the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiu-Feng Chen ◽  
Xiao-Hong Zhang ◽  
Tian-Xiu Zou ◽  
Nao-Xin Huang ◽  
Hua-Jun Chen

Purpose. Gray matter volume loss, regional cortical thinning, and local gyrification index alteration have been documented in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Fractal dimension (FD), another morphological parameter, has been widely used to describe structural complexity alterations in neurological or psychiatric disease. Here, we conducted the first study to investigate FD alterations in MHE. Methods and Materials. We performed high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging on cirrhotic patients with MHE (n=20) and healthy controls (n=21). We evaluated their cognitive performance using the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES). The regional FD value was calculated by Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and compared between groups. We further estimated the association between patients’ cognitive performance and FD values. Results. MHE patients presented significantly decreased FD values in the left precuneus, left supramarginal gyrus, right caudal anterior cingulate cortex, right isthmus cingulate cortex, right insula, bilateral pericalcarine cortex, and bilateral paracentral cortex compared to normal controls. In addition, the FD values in the right isthmus cingulate cortex and right insula were shown to be positively correlated with patients’ cognitive performance. Conclusion. Aberrant cortical complexity is an additional characteristic of MHE, and FD analysis may provide novel insight into the neurobiological basis of cognitive dysfunction in MHE.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 1313-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Jueptner ◽  
K. M. Stephan ◽  
C. D. Frith ◽  
D. J. Brooks ◽  
R.S.J. Frackowiak ◽  
...  

Jueptner, M., K. M. Stephan, C. D. Frith, D. J. Brooks, R.S.J. Frackowiak, and R. E. Passingham. Anatomy of motor learning. I. Frontal cortex and attention to action. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 1313–1324, 1997. We used positron emission tomography to study new learning and automatic performance in normal volunteers. Subjects learned sequences of eight finger movements by trial and error. In a previous experiment we showed that the prefrontal cortex was activated during new learning but not during automatic performance. The aim of the present experiment was to see what areas could be reactivated if the subjects performed the prelearned sequence but were required to pay attention to what they were doing. Scans were carried out under four conditions. In the first the subjects performed a prelearned sequence of eight key presses; this sequence was learned before scanning and was practiced until it had become overlearned, so that the subjects were able to perform it automatically. In the second condition the subjects learned a new sequence during scanning. In a third condition the subjects performed the prelearned sequence, but they were required to attend to what they were doing; they were instructed to think about the next movement. The fourth condition was a baseline condition. As in the earlier study, the dorsal prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate area 32 were activated during new learning, but not during automatic performance. The left dorsal prefrontal cortex and the right anterior cingulate cortex were reactivated when subjects paid attention to the performance of the prelearned sequence compared with automatic performance of the same task. It is suggested that the critical feature was that the subjects were required to attend to the preparation of their responses. However, the dorsal prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex were activated more when the subjects learned a new sequence than they were when subjects simply paid attention to a prelearned sequence. New learning differs from the attention condition in that the subjects generated moves, monitored the outcomes, and remembered the responses that had been successful. All these are nonroutine operations to which the subjects must attend. Further analysis is needed to specify which are the nonroutine operations that require the involvement of the dorsal prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex.


2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 511-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.V. Karpova ◽  
V.V. Mikheev ◽  
V.V. Marysheva ◽  
N.A. Kuritcyna ◽  
E.R. Bychkov ◽  
...  

The experiments were performed in male albino outbred mice kept in a group and under the conditions of long-term social isolation. The changes in the monoaminergic systems of the left and right hemispheres of the brain after acute hypoxia with hypercapnia have been studied. The levels of dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and their metabolites – dioxyphenylacetic (DOPAC), homovanillic (HVA), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic (5-HIAA) acids – were determined by HPLC in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and striatum of the right and left sides of the brain. In the control mice kept both in the group and under the conditions of social isolation, a higher content of DA in the cortex of the left hemisphere has been found. In the other brain structures the monoamine content was symmetric. In the cerebral cortex of the mice in the group, acute hypoxia with hypercapnia led to a right-sided increase in the DA and 5HT levels. At the same time, the DOPAC content decreased in the left cortex. In mice in the group, under the hypoxia with hypercapnia conditions, the DA level in the left hippocampus increased. In the striatum, the content of monoamines and their metabolites did not change significantly. In animals kept for a long time under the conditions of social isolation, hypoxia with hypercapnia no statistically significant changes in the monoamines and their metabolites levels were found. It has been concluded that the preliminary maintenance under the conditions of prolonged social isolation changes the reaction of central monoaminergic systems to acute hypoxia with hypercapnia.


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