Niemczak Christopher E, Ford James C, Roth Robert M, Leigh Samantha M, Parsonnet Jeffrey, Martin Christina, Soule Shreve O, Haron Theresa M, Buckey Jay C, Wylie Glenn R
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Space Medicine Innovations Laboratory, Lebanon, NH, USA; Dartmouth Health, Department of Medicine, Lebanon, NH, USA.
Dartmouth Health/Geisel School of Medicine, Brain Imaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Lebanon, NH, USA.
Brain Cogn. 2025 Feb;183:106254. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106254. Epub 2024 Dec 12.
Persistent cognitive fatigue (CF) is the most reported symptom in Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC), but little is known about its underlying neural basis. This pilot study examined fMRI brain activation patterns during a fatiguing task in those with and without PASC. We hypothesized that individuals with PASC would show changes in CF-related brain activation within fatigue network. Participants were 10 adults with PASC and persistent CF and 10 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. The 2-back working memory task was used during fMRI to induce CF. Patients with PASC reported greater CF, as measured using a Visual Analogue Scale of Fatigue (VAS-F), throughout the task. The relationship of brain activation in the fatigue network to increased CF during the fatiguing task did not differ between groups. There were, however, more areas inside and outside the fatigue network that were activated in the PASC group as reported CF increased. The relationship between brain activation and scores on the 2-back did differ between groups, with the PASC group showing more frontal activation. Findings suggest that individuals with PASC and CF may need to exert greater mental effort during demanding cognitive tasks, reflected in recruitment of a broader network of brain regions.
持续性认知疲劳（CF）是感染新冠病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）后的急性后遗症（PASC）中报告最多的症状，但对其潜在的神经基础知之甚少。这项初步研究检查了有和没有PASC的人在疲劳任务期间的功能磁共振成像（fMRI）大脑激活模式。我们假设患有PASC的个体在疲劳网络中与CF相关的大脑激活会发生变化。参与者为10名患有PASC和持续性CF的成年人以及10名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者。在fMRI期间使用2-back工作记忆任务来诱发CF。使用疲劳视觉模拟量表（VAS-F）测量，患有PASC的患者在整个任务过程中报告的CF程度更高。在疲劳任务期间，疲劳网络中大脑激活与CF增加之间的关系在两组之间没有差异。然而，随着报告的CF增加，PASC组中疲劳网络内外有更多区域被激活。两组之间大脑激活与2-back任务得分之间的关系确实有所不同，PASC组表现出更多的额叶激活。研究结果表明，患有PASC和CF的个体在要求较高的认知任务中可能需要付出更大的脑力，这反映在更广泛的脑区网络的募集上。
