Elucidation of the brain basis of dyspnea: Resting state functional MRI analysis

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K07985
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 52020:Neurology-related
• Research Institution: Kurume University
• Principal Investigator: Taniwaki Takayuki 久留米大学, 医学部, 教授 (80284496)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 神経機能画像学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A comparison was performed between 35 healthy young volunteers with or without mouthpiece that cause resistive load (RL) induced dyspnea. There were 10 cases who experienced dyspnea without RL. Next, resting state functional MRI was imaged, and ROI to ROI analysis was performed. During dyspnea, functional connectivity (FC) between the frontal orbital region and the posterior temporal gyrus increased in the 10 cases described above, while FC between the respiratory sensory-motor area and the visual cortex was increased in the remaining 21 cases. Graph analysis suggested that the visual cortex is a network hub. These results suggested that the (1) the 10 cases who experienced dyspnea even without RL had hyperactivity within emotional control area, and (2) the remaining 21 cases showed increased FC between the respiratory sensory-motor area and the visual cortex.

Free Research Field

脳神経内科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の結果より、多くの例では呼吸関連野とネットワークハブとの機能亢進を認め、生理学的な呼吸困難感の脳内基盤と考えられる。一方、常時呼吸困難感がある少数例では、感情制御野の活動亢進を認めた。酸素化が保たれているにも関わらず、呼吸困難感を訴える場合は、これらの例に該当するものと思われ、対処法の開発につながる成果である。以上、本研究の結果より、呼吸困難時の安静時脳ネットワークを明らかにすることができた。また安静時機能的MRIは呼吸困難感の他覚的評価法になりうることがわかり、今後の検査法・治療開発に役立つものと期待される。