Cortisol secretion predicts functional macro-scale connectivity of the visual cortex: A data-driven Multivoxel Pattern Analysis (MVPA)
| Autor: | Sebastian Trautmann, Clemens Kirschbaum, Markus Muehlhan, Lisa J. Weckesser, Robert Miller, Susanne Vogel, Nina Alexander |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Cortisol secretion
Adult Male Hydrocortisone Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism media_common.quotation_subject Sensory system Biology Pattern Recognition Automated 03 medical and health sciences Young Adult 0302 clinical medicine Endocrinology Salience (neuroscience) Perception medicine Connectome Humans Saliva Biological Psychiatry media_common Visual Cortex Resting state fMRI Endocrine and Autonomic Systems Brain Cognition Magnetic Resonance Imaging 030227 psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental health Visual cortex medicine.anatomical_structure Female Nerve Net Neuroscience 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Multivoxel pattern analysis |
| Zdroj: | Psychoneuroendocrinology. 117 |
| ISSN: | 1873-3360 |
| Popis: | Background Functional connectivity is a fundamental principle of brain organization. Cortisol, the end product of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, is a potent modulator of brain functions. Previous studies investigating the association between cortisol levels on brain connectivity are, however, limited to specifica priori defined brain networks. Such hypothesis-driven approaches only partly capture the full extent of spatial modulatory effects that cortisol exerts on brain connectivity. Consequently, the aim of this study was a data-driven identification of brain regions where connectivity patterns covary significantly with cortisol levels. Methods Eighty-eight healthy right-handed individuals participated in a task-independent fMRI-resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) measurement. The cortisol concentrations in saliva were measured at eight points in time around the resting state measurement. Using a multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), seed regions were identified whose activity covaried strongest with cortisol levels. Seed-to-voxel analyses were then performed to isolate corresponding networks affected by cortisol variation. Results The MVPA identified three regions in the primary and secondary visual cortex where connectivity patterns were associated with cortisol secretion. Seed-to-voxel analysis revealed large lateral connectivity clusters that mainly correspond to the salience and control network, but also to auditory and pericentral regions. Subsequent dose-response analysis suggests that cortisol levels below ∼10 nmol/L weakly influenced connectivity between the identified regions. Discussion The results indicate a dose-dependent association between cortisol levels and the rsFC of the visual cortex to several lateral brain regions associated with perception, attention, cognition, salience mapping and motor actions. It is possible that the effects of cortisol on cognitive functions may be (at least partially) mediated by cortisol effects on the underlying sensory processes. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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