Center for Brain, Mind and Kansei Sciences Research, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Center for Brain, Mind and Kansei Sciences Research, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Asian J Psychiatr. 2024 May;95:103991. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2024.103991. Epub 2024 Mar 4.
Interoception, the neural sensing of visceral signals, and interoceptive awareness (IA), the conscious perception of interoception, are crucial for life survival functions and mental health. Resilience, the capacity to overcome adversity, has been associated with reduced interoceptive disturbances. Here, we sought evidence for our Insula Modular Active Control (IMAC) model that suggest that the insula, a brain region specialized in the processing of interoceptive information, realizes IA and contributes to resilience and mental health via cortico-subcortical connections.
64 healthy participants (32 females; ages 18-34 years) answered questionnaires that assess IA and resilience. Mental health was evaluated with the Beck Depression Inventory II that assesses depressive mood. Participants also underwent a 15 minute resting-state functional resonance imaging session. Pearson correlations and mediation analyses were used to investigate the relationship between IA and resilience and their contributions to depressive mood. We then performed insula seed-based functional connectivity analyzes to identify insula networks involved in IA, resilience and depressive mood.
We first demonstrated that resilience mediates the relationship between IA and depressive mood. Second, shared and distinct intra-insula, insula-cortical and insula-subcortical networks were associated with IA, resilience and also predicted the degree of experienced depressive mood. Third, while resilience was associated with stronger insula-precuneus, insula-cerebellum and insula-prefrontal networks, IA was linked with stronger intra-insula, insula-striatum and insula-motor networks.
Our findings help understand the roles of insula-cortico-subcortical networks in IA and resilience. These results also highlight the potential use of insula networks as biomarkers for depression prediction.
内感受，即对内脏信号的神经感知，以及内感受意识（IA），即对内感受的有意识感知，对生命生存功能和心理健康至关重要。韧性，即克服逆境的能力，与减少内感受干扰有关。在这里，我们寻求证据支持我们的脑岛模块主动控制（IMAC）模型，该模型表明，脑岛是专门处理内感受信息的大脑区域，通过皮质-皮质下连接实现 IA，并通过皮质-皮质下连接促进韧性和心理健康。
64 名健康参与者（32 名女性；年龄 18-34 岁）回答了评估 IA 和韧性的问卷。使用贝克抑郁量表 II 评估心理健康，该量表评估抑郁情绪。参与者还接受了 15 分钟的静息状态功能磁共振成像。使用 Pearson 相关和中介分析来研究 IA 和韧性之间的关系，以及它们对抑郁情绪的贡献。然后，我们进行了脑岛种子的功能连接分析，以确定与 IA、韧性和抑郁情绪相关的脑岛网络。
我们首先证明韧性在 IA 和抑郁情绪之间的关系中起中介作用。其次，共享和独特的脑岛内、脑岛-皮质和脑岛-皮质下网络与 IA、韧性有关，也可以预测体验到的抑郁情绪的程度。第三，虽然韧性与更强的脑岛-楔前叶、脑岛-小脑和脑岛-前额叶网络相关，IA 与更强的脑岛内、脑岛-纹状体和脑岛-运动网络相关。
我们的发现有助于理解脑岛皮质下网络在 IA 和韧性中的作用。这些结果还突出了脑岛网络作为预测抑郁的生物标志物的潜在用途。
