Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging

<p>Dyspnoea (breathlessness) is a debilitating, often poorly controlled, symptom of cardiopulmonary, neurovascular and psychological disorders. This thesis develops the necessary methodology to dissociate aspects of the acute dyspnoea experience using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMR...

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Main Author: Hayen, A
Other Authors: Pattinson, K
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
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author Hayen, A
author2 Pattinson, K
author_facet Pattinson, K
Hayen, A
author_sort Hayen, A
collection OXFORD
description <p>Dyspnoea (breathlessness) is a debilitating, often poorly controlled, symptom of cardiopulmonary, neurovascular and psychological disorders. This thesis develops the necessary methodology to dissociate aspects of the acute dyspnoea experience using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) in healthy volunteers. The neuronal mechanisms underlying dyspnoea anticipation, its perceived intensity and unpleasantness and the modulation of these mechanisms by the opioid remifentanil were explored.</p> <p>We investigated the subjective perception of respiratory loading, a commonly used dyspnoea stimulus, and its potential systematic confounds on FMRI due to cerebral blood flow changes. Investigation of the perception of respiratory loading at different levels of hypercapnia (increased end-tidal CO<sub>2</sub>) showed that hypercapnia should be kept to a minimum to avoid increased baseline respiratory unpleasantness whilst maintaining the stable arterial CO<sub>2</sub> (isocapnia) beneficial for FMRI analysis. Investigation of the effects of respiratory loading (± 9 cmH<sub>2</sub>O) on cerebral blood flow showed that systematic confounds of respiratory loading on perfusion-based neuroimaging data were small (~5%) and did not significantly alter neural activation in response to visual stimulation.</p> <p>Isocapnic respiratory loading during a classical fear-conditioning paradigm during FMRI was used to investigate dyspnoea anticipation, and dissociate the intensity and unpleasantness of acute dyspnoea by modulating unpleasantness with remifentanil. Differential neural networks were found to be involved in perceived intensity (thalamus, insula, somatosensory cortex) and unpleasantness (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex). Remifentanil reduced respiratory unpleasantness without affecting the perceived intensity and differentially reduced brain activity during both dyspnoea anticipation and perception.</p> <p>This thesis showed the potential of isocapnic respiratory loading for the study of dyspnoea with FMRI. This stimulus revealed, for the first time, brain activation for dyspnoea anticipation, perceived intensity and unpleasantness. The opioid-sensitive nature of the anticipation and unpleasantness of dyspnoea provides brain targets for future research and might facilitate more effective dyspnoea palliation.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:24c95491-4ab0-401c-bf2e-73ce16d615112024-12-01T18:50:08ZStudying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imagingThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:24c95491-4ab0-401c-bf2e-73ce16d61511NeuroscienceEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2014Hayen, APattinson, KFarmery, A<p>Dyspnoea (breathlessness) is a debilitating, often poorly controlled, symptom of cardiopulmonary, neurovascular and psychological disorders. This thesis develops the necessary methodology to dissociate aspects of the acute dyspnoea experience using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) in healthy volunteers. The neuronal mechanisms underlying dyspnoea anticipation, its perceived intensity and unpleasantness and the modulation of these mechanisms by the opioid remifentanil were explored.</p> <p>We investigated the subjective perception of respiratory loading, a commonly used dyspnoea stimulus, and its potential systematic confounds on FMRI due to cerebral blood flow changes. Investigation of the perception of respiratory loading at different levels of hypercapnia (increased end-tidal CO<sub>2</sub>) showed that hypercapnia should be kept to a minimum to avoid increased baseline respiratory unpleasantness whilst maintaining the stable arterial CO<sub>2</sub> (isocapnia) beneficial for FMRI analysis. Investigation of the effects of respiratory loading (± 9 cmH<sub>2</sub>O) on cerebral blood flow showed that systematic confounds of respiratory loading on perfusion-based neuroimaging data were small (~5%) and did not significantly alter neural activation in response to visual stimulation.</p> <p>Isocapnic respiratory loading during a classical fear-conditioning paradigm during FMRI was used to investigate dyspnoea anticipation, and dissociate the intensity and unpleasantness of acute dyspnoea by modulating unpleasantness with remifentanil. Differential neural networks were found to be involved in perceived intensity (thalamus, insula, somatosensory cortex) and unpleasantness (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex). Remifentanil reduced respiratory unpleasantness without affecting the perceived intensity and differentially reduced brain activity during both dyspnoea anticipation and perception.</p> <p>This thesis showed the potential of isocapnic respiratory loading for the study of dyspnoea with FMRI. This stimulus revealed, for the first time, brain activation for dyspnoea anticipation, perceived intensity and unpleasantness. The opioid-sensitive nature of the anticipation and unpleasantness of dyspnoea provides brain targets for future research and might facilitate more effective dyspnoea palliation.</p>
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Hayen, A
Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
title Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
title_full Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
title_fullStr Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
title_full_unstemmed Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
title_short Studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
title_sort studying the brain mechanisms of dyspnoea with functional magnetic resonance imaging
topic Neuroscience
work_keys_str_mv AT hayena studyingthebrainmechanismsofdyspnoeawithfunctionalmagneticresonanceimaging