Abstract
Background
Researchers document bidirectional pathways linking peripheral inflammation and neural
circuitries subserving emotion processing and regulation. To extend this work, we
present results from two independent studies examining the relationship between inflammation
and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), as measured by functional magnetic
resonance imaging.
Methods
Study 1 involved 90 rural African American young adults, 25 years of age (52% female),
and study 2 involved 82 urban African American youths, 13 to 14 years of age (66%
female). Both studies measured circulating inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein,
interleukin 6, interleukin 10, tumor necrosis factor alpha), and the measures were
averaged to form a composite. Study 2 also enumerated classical monocytes, a key leukocyte
subpopulation involved in immune-to-brain signaling. All participants completed a
resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan.
Results
Consistent with our prediction, higher scores on the inflammatory composite were associated
with lower rsFC within an emotion regulation network in study 1, controlling for sex.
Study 2 replicated study 1, showing that higher scores on the inflammatory composite
were associated with lower rsFC within the emotion regulation network, controlling
for sex, age, and pubertal status, and found a similar pattern for rsFC within a central
executive network. Study 2 also found that higher numbers of classical monocytes were
associated with lower rsFC within both the emotion regulation and central executive
networks. There was no relationship between rsFC in the anterior salience or default
mode networks with inflammation in either study.
Conclusions
With these findings, we document relationships between peripheral inflammation and
rsFC within an emotion regulation and central executive network and replicate these
associations with the emotion regulation network across two independent samples.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 01, 2019
Accepted:
March 4,
2019
Received in revised form:
February 27,
2019
Received:
September 5,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Society of Biological Psychiatry.
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- Disentangling the Effects of Peripheral Inflammatory Markers on Brain Functional ConnectivityBiological PsychiatryVol. 86Issue 2
- PreviewDiscovery of the role of inflammatory processes in mental health and ill health, particularly mood disorders, represents a major advance in understanding in psychiatry and with it the opportunity to develop/repurpose immunotherapies for real patient benefit (1). In the context of acute inflammation, proinflammatory mediators (e.g., cytokines) rapidly activate parallel neural and humoral immune–brain communicatory pathways to perturb local (e.g., neurotransmitter) as well as distributed networks of neural activity to impair mood, motivation, and cognition (2).
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