Faculty Collaboration Database

Excessive coupling of the salience network with intrinsic neurocognitive brain networks during rectal distension in adolescents with irritable bowel syndrome: a preliminary report. Neurogastroenterol Motil 2016 Jan;28(1):43-53

Date

10/16/2015

Pubmed ID

26467966

Pubmed Central ID

PMC4688218

DOI

10.1111/nmo.12695

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84952637743 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   41 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The neural network mechanisms underlying visceral hypersensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are incompletely understood. It has been proposed that an intrinsic salience network plays an important role in chronic pain and IBS symptoms. Using neuroimaging, we examined brain responses to rectal distension in adolescent IBS patients, focusing on determining the alteration of salience network integrity in IBS and its functional implications in current theoretical frameworks. We hypothesized that (i) brain responses to visceral stimulation in adolescents are similar to those in adults, and (ii) IBS is associated with an altered salience network interaction with other neurocognitive networks, particularly the default mode network (DMN) and executive control network (ECN), as predicted by the theoretical models.

METHODS: Irritable bowel syndrome patients and controls received subliminal and liminal rectal distension during imaging. Stimulus-induced brain activations were determined. Salience network integrity was evaluated by the functional connectivity of its seed regions activated by rectal distension in the insular and cingulate cortices.

KEY RESULTS: Compared with controls, IBS patients demonstrated greater activation to rectal distension in neural structures of the homeostatic afferent and emotional arousal networks, especially the anterior cingulate and insular cortices. Greater brain responses to liminal vs subliminal distension were observed in both groups. Particularly, IBS is uniquely associated with an excessive coupling of the salience network with the DMN and ECN in their key frontal and parietal node areas.

CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: Our study provided consistent evidence supporting the theoretical predictions of altered salience network functioning as a neuropathological mechanism of IBS symptoms.

Author List

Liu X, Silverman A, Kern M, Ward BD, Li SJ, Shaker R, Sood MR

Authors

Reza Shaker MD Assoc Provost, Sr Assoc Dean, Ctr Dir, Chief, Prof in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Alan Silverman PhD Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Brain
Case-Control Studies
Cerebral Cortex
Child
Female
Functional Neuroimaging
Gyrus Cinguli
Humans
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neural Pathways
Physical Stimulation
Pressure
Rectum