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Norlin AK, Walter S, Icenhour A, Keita ÅV, Elsenbruch S, Bednarska O, Jones MP, Simon R, Engström M. Fatigue in irritable bowel syndrome is associated with plasma levels of TNF-α and mesocorticolimbic connectivity. Brain Behav Immun 2021; 92:211-222. [PMID: 33249172 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.11.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Revised: 10/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/23/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a symptom-based disorder of gut-brain interactions generating abdominal pain. It is also associated with a vulnerability to develop extraintestinal symptoms, with fatigue often reported as one of the most disturbing. Fatigue is related to brain function and inflammation in several disorders, however, the mechanisms of such relations in IBS remain elusive. This study aimed to elucidate fatigue and its association with a resting state network of mesocorticolimbic regions of known importance in fatigue, and to explore the possible role of circulating TNF-α levels in IBS and healthy controls (HC). Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted in 88 IBS patients and 47 HC of similar age and gender to investigate functional connectivity between mesocorticolimbic regions. Further, fatigue impact on daily life and plasma levels of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), of known relevance to immune activation in IBS, were also measured. The selected mesocorticolimbic regions indeed formed a functionally connected network in all participants. The nucleus accumbens (NAc), in particular, exhibited functional connectivity to all other regions of interest. In IBS, fatigue impact on daily life was negatively correlated with the connectivity between NAc and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally (left p = 0.019; right p = 0.038, corrected for multiple comparisons), while in HC, fatigue impact on daily life was positively correlated to the connectivity between the right NAc and anterior middle insula in both hemispheres (left p = 0.009; right p = 0.011). We found significantly higher levels of TNF-α in IBS patients compared to HC (p = 0.001) as well as a positive correlation between TNF-α and fatigue impact on daily life in IBS patients (rho = 0.25, p = 0.02) but not in HC (rho = -0.13, p = 0.37). There was no association between functional connectivity in the mesocorticolimbic network and plasma levels of TNF-α in either group In summary, this novel multimodal study provides the first evidence that the vulnerability to fatigue in IBS is associated with connectivity within a mesocorticolimbic network as well as immune activation. These findings warrant further investigation, both peripherally and potentially with measurements of central immune activation as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna-Karin Norlin
- Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
| | - Susanna Walter
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Adriane Icenhour
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping Sweden; Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Åsa V Keita
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Sigrid Elsenbruch
- Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Olga Bednarska
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Michael P Jones
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Rozalyn Simon
- Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping Sweden
| | - Maria Engström
- Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping Sweden
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Yu S, Li W, Shen W, Edwards RR, Gollub RL, Wilson G, Park J, Ortiz A, Cao J, Gerber J, Mawla I, Chan ST, Lee J, Wasan AD, Napadow V, Kaptchuk TJ, Rosen B, Kong J. Impaired mesocorticolimbic connectivity underlies increased pain sensitivity in chronic low back pain. Neuroimage 2020; 218:116969. [PMID: 32439536 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2019] [Revised: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is a prevalent disorder. A growing body of evidence linking the pathology of the reward network to chronic pain suggests that pain sensitization may contribute to cLBP chronification via disruptions of mesocortical and mesolimbic circuits in the reward system. Resting-state (RS) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data was acquired from 90 patients with cLBP and 74 matched pain-free controls (HCs) at baseline and after a manipulation for back pain intensification. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) was chosen as a seed region to perform RS functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Baseline rsFC of both the mesocortical (between the VTA and bilateral rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC)/and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)) and mesolimbic (between the VTA and bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampus) pathways was reduced in patients with cLBP (vs. HCs). In addition, patients exhibiting higher back pain intensity (compared to the relatively lower back pain intensity condition) also showed increases in both mesocortical and mesolimbic connectivity, implicating these pathways in pain downregulation in cLBP. Mediation analysis further isolated the mesolimbic (VTA-hippocampus/parahippocampus) dysconnectivity as a neural mechanism mediating the association between mechanical pain sensitivity (indexed by P40 pressure) and cLBP severity. In sum, the current study demonstrates deficient mesocorticolimbic connectivity in cLBP, with mesolimbic dysconnectivity potentially mediating the contribution of pain sensitization to pain chronification. These reward network dysfunctions and purportedly, dopaminergic dysregulations, may help us to identify key brain targets of neuromodulation in the treatment of cLBP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyi Yu
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Wen Li
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Wei Shen
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Robert R Edwards
- Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Randy L Gollub
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Georgia Wilson
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Joel Park
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Ana Ortiz
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Jin Cao
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Jessica Gerber
- Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Ishtiaq Mawla
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Suk-Tak Chan
- Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Jeungchan Lee
- Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Ajay D Wasan
- Department of Anesthesiology, Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Vitaly Napadow
- Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Ted J Kaptchuk
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bruce Rosen
- Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Jian Kong
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
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