Coronel-Oliveros Carlos, Medel Vicente, Whitaker Grace Alma, Astudillo Aland, Gallagher David, Z-Rivera Lucía, Prado Pavel, El-Deredy Wael, Orio Patricio, Weinstein Alejandro
Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile.
Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA and Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Netw Neurosci. 2024 Apr 1;8(1):275-292. doi: 10.1162/netn_a_00352. eCollection 2024.
High-altitude hypoxia triggers brain function changes reminiscent of those in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease, compromising cognition and executive functions. Our study sought to validate high-altitude hypoxia as a model for assessing brain activity disruptions akin to aging. We collected EEG data from 16 healthy volunteers during acute high-altitude hypoxia (at 4,000 masl) and at sea level, focusing on relative changes in power and aperiodic slope of the EEG spectrum due to hypoxia. Additionally, we examined functional connectivity using wPLI, and functional segregation and integration using graph theory tools. High altitude led to slower brain oscillations, that is, increased and reduced power, and flattened the 1/f aperiodic slope, indicating higher electrophysiological noise, akin to healthy aging. Notably, functional integration strengthened in the band, exhibiting unique topographical patterns at the subnetwork level, including increased frontocentral and reduced occipitoparietal integration. Moreover, we discovered significant correlations between subjects' age, 1/f slope, band integration, and observed robust effects of hypoxia after adjusting for age. Our findings shed light on how reduced oxygen levels at high altitudes influence brain activity patterns resembling those in neurodegenerative disorders and aging, making high-altitude hypoxia a promising model for comprehending the brain in health and disease.
高原缺氧会引发大脑功能变化，这些变化类似于健康衰老和阿尔茨海默病中的变化，损害认知和执行功能。我们的研究旨在验证高原缺氧作为一种评估类似于衰老的大脑活动紊乱模型的有效性。我们在急性高原缺氧（海拔4000米）期间和海平面上收集了16名健康志愿者的脑电图数据，重点关注缺氧导致的脑电图频谱功率和非周期性斜率的相对变化。此外，我们使用加权相位滞后指数（wPLI）检查功能连接，并使用图论工具检查功能分离和整合。高原导致大脑振荡变慢，即增加和减少功率，并使1/f非周期性斜率变平，表明电生理噪声增加，类似于健康衰老。值得注意的是，功能整合在频段增强，在子网水平上表现出独特的地形模式，包括额中央整合增加和枕顶整合减少。此外，我们发现受试者的年龄、1/f斜率、频段整合之间存在显著相关性，并在调整年龄后观察到缺氧的强烈影响。我们的研究结果揭示了高海拔地区氧气水平降低如何影响类似于神经退行性疾病和衰老中的大脑活动模式，使高原缺氧成为理解健康和疾病状态下大脑的一个有前景的模型。
