Disrupted prefrontal functional connectivity during post-stress adaption in high ruminators

David Rosenbaum,Ann-Christine Ehlis,Florian G Metzger,Vanessa Nieratschker,Hans-Christoph Nuerk,Florian B Haeussinger,Paula Hilsendegen,Andreas J Fallgatter,Mara Thomas

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-33777-1

David Rosenbaum, Ann-Christine Ehlis + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33777-1

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Abstract

Rumination is a perseverative thinking style that is associated with adverse mental and physical health. Stressful situations have been considered as a trigger for this kind of thinking. Until today, there are mixed findings with respect to the relations of functional connectivity (FC) and rumination. The study at hand aimed to investigate, in how far high and low ruminators would show elevated levels of state rumination after a stress induction and if these changes would show corresponding changes in FC in the cognitive control network (CCN) and dorsal attention network (DAN). 23 high and 22 low trait ruminators underwent resting-state measurements before and after a stress induction with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Changes in rsFC through the TSST were measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy within and between regions of the CCN. Stress successfully induced state rumination in both groups but stronger in the high trait ruminators. High trait ruminators showed elevated FC within the CCN at baseline, but attenuated increase in FC following the TSST. Increases in FC correlated negatively with state rumination. A lack of FC reactivity within the CCN in high ruminators might reflect reduced network integration between brain regions necessary for emotion regulation and cognitive control.

Highlights

The tendency to ruminate about negative thought content has been shown to be related to a variety of adverse consequences[1]
We hypothesized that the stress induction would lead to higher functional connectivity (FC) within the cognitive control network (CCN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN) and that these changes would still be present in a resting-state measure following the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)
As we were interested in the CCN and DAN, we investigated FC between and within the regions of the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and somatosensory association cortex (SAC)

Summary

Introduction

The tendency to ruminate about negative thought content has been shown to be related to a variety of adverse consequences[1]. Rumination has effects on the cortisol response in terms of a reduced decline[32,33] This effect might be more strongly related to state rumination as compared to trait rumination[27]. We sought to investigate changes in resting-state FC in low and high trait ruminators following a stress induction via the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). We assessed quantitative rumination state-variables to investigate in how far social stress elevates ruminative responses following the stress induction. We hypothesized that the stress induction would lead to higher FC within the CCN and the DAN and that these changes would still be present in a resting-state measure following the TSST (hypothesis 1). We expected that high ruminators in contrast to low ruminators would show higher FC in the CCN before the TSST (hypothesis 2)

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