Kosugi Wataru, Sumali Brian, Hamada Nozomu, Mitsukura Yasue
School of Integrated Design Engineering, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan.
Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2024 Dec 10;18:1409123. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1409123. eCollection 2024.
Carbonated water (CarbW) affects the swallowing function associated with the action of the brainstem. In addition, CarbW ingestion promotes mean blood flow in the middle cerebral artery, which is associated with blood flow to the frontal and temporal lobes. In this milieu, studies regarding the effect of drinking CarbW on brain activity are of significance. In the present study, we compared the changes in cerebral blood flow in the frontal region before and after the ingestion of CarbW or uncarbonated water (SW).
Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to continuously measure the cerebral blood flow at 22 channels in the frontal region of 13 healthy young adults for 10 min before and after the ingestion of CarbW or SW. We statistically compared the changes in oxyhemoglobin concentration before and after the ingestion of CarbW or SW.
Compared with that before CarbW ingestion, the oxyhemoglobin concentration in the left frontal region increased after CarbW ingestion. In particular, a significant increase ( < 0.05) was observed in the ch21 region. On the contrary, no marked increase or decrease in cerebral blood flow was observed after SW ingestion compared with that before ingestion.
The activated part of the frontal region (ch21) corresponds to the vicinity of the orbitofrontal cortex, which is reportedly activated by rewarding stimuli. In addition, as the orbitofrontal cortex is located at the terminal end of the reward pathway of the mesocortical system, CarbW ingestion might have acted on the dopaminergic reward pathway of the mesocortical system.
碳酸水（CarbW）会影响与脑干活动相关的吞咽功能。此外，摄入碳酸水可促进大脑中动脉的平均血流量，这与额叶和颞叶的血流有关。在这种情况下，研究饮用碳酸水对大脑活动的影响具有重要意义。在本研究中，我们比较了摄入碳酸水或无碳酸水（SW）前后额叶区域脑血流量的变化。
采用近红外光谱法，在13名健康年轻成年人摄入碳酸水或SW前后10分钟，连续测量额叶区域22个通道的脑血流量。我们对摄入碳酸水或SW前后氧合血红蛋白浓度的变化进行了统计学比较。
与摄入碳酸水前相比，摄入碳酸水后左额叶区域的氧合血红蛋白浓度增加。特别是，在ch21区域观察到显著增加（<0.05）。相反，与摄入前相比，摄入SW后未观察到脑血流量有明显增加或减少。
额叶区域（ch21）的激活部分对应眶额皮质附近，据报道该区域会因奖励刺激而激活。此外，由于眶额皮质位于中皮质系统奖励通路的末端，则摄入碳酸水可能作用于中皮质系统的多巴胺能奖励通路。
