AI Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how focused ultrasound (LIFU) can modify brain responses tied to heartbeat, known as heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP), and focuses on specific brain regions like the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC).
- Healthy participants received targeted LIFU while their brain activity (EEG) and heart activity (ECG) were monitored, with the main goal of observing changes in HEP amplitudes.
- Results showed that LIFU to the posterior insula reduced HEP amplitudes, but it did not alter heart rate or variability, indicating the potential for targeting brain areas to influence interoceptive processing.
Article Abstract
Objective: The heartbeat evoked potential (HEP) is a brain response time-locked to the heartbeat and a potential marker of interoceptive processing that may be generated in the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) can selectively modulate sub-regions of the insula and dACC to better understand their contributions to the HEP.
Methods: Healthy participants (n = 16) received stereotaxically targeted LIFU to the anterior insula (AI), posterior insula (PI), dACC, or Sham at rest during continuous electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) recording on separate days. Primary outcome was HEP amplitudes. Relationships between LIFU pressure and HEP changes and effects of LIFU on heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) were also explored.
Results: Relative to sham, LIFU to the PI, but not AI or dACC, decreased HEP amplitudes; PI effects were partially explained by increased LIFU pressure. LIFU did not affect heart rate or HRV.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate the ability to modulate HEP amplitudes via non-invasive targeting of key interoceptive brain regions.
Significance: Our findings have implications for the causal role of these areas in bottom-up heart-brain communication that could guide future work investigating the HEP as a marker of interoceptive processing in healthy and clinical populations.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2024.09.006 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Interoceptive Brain Processing Influences Moral Decision Making.
Hum Brain Mapp
December 2024
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Not harming others is widely regarded as a fundamental tenet of human morality. Harm aversion based on the consequences of an action is called utilitarianism while focusing on the action itself is associated with deontology. This study investigated how interoceptive processing affects the neural processing of utilitarian and deontological moral decision-making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeural Interoceptive Processing is Modulated by Deep Brain Stimulation to Subcallosal Cingulate Cortex for Treatment Resistant Depression.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
November 2024
Nash Family Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Electronic address:
Background: Symptoms of depression are associated with impaired interoceptive processing of bodily sensation. The antidepressant effects of subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation (SCC DBS) include acute change in bodily sensation, and the SCC target is connected to cortical regions critically involved in interoception. This study tests whether cortical interoceptive processing is modulated by SCC DBS for treatment resistant depression (TRD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtocol for a Pilot Study on the Neurocardiac Mechanism of an Interoceptive Compassion-Based Heart-Smile Training for Depression.
Glob Adv Integr Med Health
November 2024
Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Background: Heart-Smile Training (HST) is an interoceptive compassion-based behavioral intervention that in case reports has been beneficial for depression. Interoception refers to the awareness and regulation of physiological signals from inside the body. Depressed patients often have diminished interoceptive awareness and often experience disconnection from bodily needs and sensations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLinking brain-heart interactions to emotional arousal in immersive virtual reality.
Psychophysiology
December 2024
Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
The subjective experience of emotions is linked to the contextualized perception and appraisal of changes in bodily (e.g., heart) activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow-intensity focused ultrasound to the insula differentially modulates the heartbeat-evoked potential: A proof-of-concept study.
Clin Neurophysiol
November 2024
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA; Center for Human Neuroscience Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA; Center for Health Behaviors Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA; School of Neuroscience, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24016, USA; Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA; Graduate Program in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA. Electronic address:
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how focused ultrasound (LIFU) can modify brain responses tied to heartbeat, known as heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP), and focuses on specific brain regions like the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC).
- Healthy participants received targeted LIFU while their brain activity (EEG) and heart activity (ECG) were monitored, with the main goal of observing changes in HEP amplitudes.
- Results showed that LIFU to the posterior insula reduced HEP amplitudes, but it did not alter heart rate or variability, indicating the potential for targeting brain areas to influence interoceptive processing.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!