School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.
Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2021 Apr;15(2):896-905. doi: 10.1007/s11682-020-00298-3.
The salience network (SN) anchored by the anterior insula and cingulate is crucial for the autonomic control of body homeostasis. Resting-sate fMRI studies have linked intrinsic SN connectivity with multiple autonomic measures, but little is known about the structural organization of this system relating to cardiac vagal function. To address the above issue, the current study used covariance analysis of MRI-based gray matter volume (GMV) to map structural covariance of SN with two independent datasets, and then determined whether interregional structural connections within SN related to individual differences in vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV). The results showed a significant positive association between structural covariance of the SN and vagal component of HRV in two independent samples. More importantly, the conjunction and pooled data analysis revealed that structural correlation from left anterior insula to dorsal anterior cingulate cortex positively interacted with vagally-mediated HRV. The current results demonstrated a crucial role of the SN in the cortical modulation of efferent vagal activity to the heart, and provided new insight into structural neural network implicated in cardiac vagal control.
突显网络（SN）以前额叶和扣带回为中心，对于身体内稳态的自主控制至关重要。静息状态 fMRI 研究将内在 SN 连接与多种自主测量联系起来，但对于与心脏迷走神经功能相关的该系统的结构组织知之甚少。为了解决上述问题，本研究使用基于 MRI 的灰质体积（GMV）协方差分析来绘制 SN 的结构协方差图，使用两个独立数据集，然后确定 SN 内的区域间结构连接是否与迷走神经介导的心率变异性（HRV）的个体差异相关。结果表明，两个独立样本中 SN 的结构协方差与 HRV 的迷走神经分量之间存在显著正相关。更重要的是，联合和汇总数据分析显示，左侧前岛叶到背侧前扣带皮层的结构相关性与迷走神经介导的 HRV 呈正交互作用。目前的结果表明，SN 在皮层对心脏传出迷走神经活动的调制中起着至关重要的作用，并为心脏迷走神经控制中涉及的结构神经网络提供了新的见解。
