scholarly journals Effect of Subanesthetic Ketamine on Intrinsic Functional Brain Connectivity

2012 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 868-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke Niesters ◽  
Najmeh Khalili-Mahani ◽  
Christian Martini ◽  
Leon Aarts ◽  
Joop van Gerven ◽  
...  

Background The influence of psychoactive drugs on the central nervous system has been investigated with positron emission tomography and task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. However, it is not known how these drugs affect the intrinsic large-scale interactions of the brain (resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity). In this study, the effect of low-dose S(+)-ketamine on intrinsic brain connectivity was investigated. Methods Twelve healthy, male volunteers received a 2-h intravenous S(+)-ketamine infusion (first hour 20 mg/70 kg, second hour 40 mg/70 kg). Before, during, and after S(+)-ketamine administration, resting-state brain connectivity was measured. In addition, heat pain tests were performed between imaging sessions to determine ketamine-induced analgesia. A mixed-effects general linear model was used to determine drug and pain effects on resting-state brain connectivity. Results Ketamine increased the connectivity most importantly in the cerebellum and visual cortex in relation to the medial visual network. A decrease in connectivity was observed in the auditory and somatosensory network in relation to regions responsible for pain sensing and the affective processing of pain, which included the amygdala, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex. Connectivity variations related to fluctuations in pain scores were observed in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and the brainstem, regions involved in descending inhibition of pain. Conclusions Changes in connectivity were observed in the areas that explain ketamine's pharmacodynamic profile with respect to analgesia and psychedelic and other side effects. In addition, pain and ketamine changed brain connectivity in areas involved in endogenous pain modulation.

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 871-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golrokh Mirzaei ◽  
Hojjat Adeli

AbstractIn recent years, there has been considerable research interest in the study of brain connectivity using the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI). Studies have explored the brain networks and connection between different brain regions. These studies have revealed interesting new findings about the brain mapping as well as important new insights in the overall organization of functional communication in the brain network. In this paper, after a general discussion of brain networks and connectivity imaging, the brain connectivity and resting state networks are described with a focus on rsfMRI imaging in stroke studies. Then, techniques for preprocessing of the rsfMRI for stroke patients are reviewed, followed by brain connectivity processing techniques. Recent research on brain connectivity using rsfMRI is reviewed with an emphasis on stroke studies. The authors hope this paper generates further interest in this emerging area of computational neuroscience with potential applications in rehabilitation of stroke patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-Min Wang ◽  
Nak-Young Kim ◽  
Dong Woo Kang ◽  
Yoo Hyun Um ◽  
Hae-Ran Na ◽  
...  

Objective: Diverse resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) studies showed that rs-fMRI might be able to reflect the earliest detrimental effect of cerebral beta-amyloid (Aβ) pathology. However, no previous studies specifically compared the predictive value of different rs-fMRI parameters in preclinical AD.Methods: A total of 106 cognitively normal adults (Aβ+ group = 66 and Aβ− group = 40) were included. Three different rs-fMRI parameter maps including functional connectivity (FC), fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were utilized to compare classification performance of the three rs-fMRI parameters.Results: FC maps showed the best classifying performance in ROC curve analysis (AUC, 0.915, p < 0.001). Good but weaker performance was achieved by using ReHo maps (AUC, 0.836, p < 0.001) and fALFF maps (AUC, 0.804, p < 0.001). The brain regions showing the greatest discriminative power included the left angular gyrus for FC, left anterior cingulate for ReHo, and left middle frontal gyrus for fALFF. However, among the three measurements, ROI-based FC was the only measure showing group difference in voxel-wise analysis.Conclusion: Our results strengthen the idea that rs-fMRI might be sensitive to earlier changes in spontaneous brain activity and FC in response to cerebral Aβ retention. However, further longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm their utility in predicting the risk of AD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis-Philippe Marquis ◽  
Sarah-Hélène Julien ◽  
Véronique Daneault ◽  
Cloé Blanchette-Carrière ◽  
Tyna Paquette ◽  
...  

Nightmares are highly dysphoric dreams that are well-remembered upon awakening. Frequent nightmares have been associated with psychopathology and emotional dysregulation, yet their neural mechanisms remain largely unknown. Our neurocognitive model posits that nightmares reflect dysfunction in a limbic-prefrontal circuit comprising medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, hippocampus, and amygdala. However, there is a paucity of studies that used brain imaging to directly test the neural correlates of nightmares. One such study compared the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging blood-oxygen level-dependent signals between frequent nightmare recallers and controls. The main results were greater regional homogeneity in the left anterior cingulate cortex and right inferior parietal lobule for the nightmare recallers than for the controls. In the present study, we aimed to document the ReHo correlates of frequent nightmares using several nightmare severity measures. We acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 18 frequent nightmare recallers aged 18–35 (3 males and 15 females) and 18 age- and sex-matched controls, as well as retrospective and prospective disturbed dreaming frequency estimates and scores on the Nightmare Distress Questionnaire. While there were inconsistent results for our different analyses (group comparisons, correlational analyses for frequency estimates/Nightmare Distress scores), our results suggest that nightmares are associated with altered ReHo in frontal (medial prefrontal and inferior frontal), parietal, temporal and occipital regions, as well as some subcortical regions (thalamus). We also found a positive correlation between retrospective disturbed dreaming frequency estimates and ReHo values in the hippocampus. These findings are mostly in line with a recent SPECT study from our laboratory. Our results point to the possibility that a variety of regions, including but not limited to the limbic-prefrontal circuit of our neurocognitive model, contribute to nightmare formation.


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