Mayer Waves Research Articles

Probing prefrontal cortex hemodynamic alterations during facial emotion recognition for major depression disorder through functional near-infrared spectroscopy

Objective. A serious issue in psychiatric practice is a lack of specific, objective biomarker to assist clinicians in establishing differential diagnosis and improving individualized treatment. Major depression disorder (MDD) is characterized by poorer ability in processing of facial emotional expressions. Approach. Applying a portable neuroimaging system using near-infrared spectroscopy, we investigated the prefrontal cortex hemodynamic activation changes during facial emotion recognition and rest periods for 27 MDD patients compared with 24 healthy controls (HC). Main results. The hemodynamic changes in the left prefrontal cortex for the MDD group showed significant differences in the median values and the Mayer wave power ratios of the oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (deoxy-Hb) during the emotional face recognition compared with the HC subjects, indicating the abnormal oxidative metabolism and weaker local hemodynamic oscillations for the MDD. The mean cross wavelet coefficients and the average wavelet coherence coefficient between oxy-Hb and deoxy-Hb over the left prefrontal cortex, and also between the bilateral oxy-Hb in the MDD patients were significantly lower than the HC group, demonstrating abnormal locally functional connectivity over the left prefrontal cortex, and the inter-hemispheric connection between the bilateral prefrontal cortices. Significance. These results suggested that the hemodynamic changes over the left prefrontal cortex and between the bilateral prefrontal cortices detected by fNIRS could provide reliable predictors for the diagnosis of the depression in clinic, and also supported the rationale for use of transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to restore excitability of prefrontal cortex that exhibits diminished regulation of emotion-generative systems in the MDD patients.

Abstract TP490: Analysis of Cerebral Hemodynamics and Interaction of 0.1-hz Oscillations of Hemodynamic Parameters in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

Background: POTS is defined as heart rate increase of more than 30 beats within the first minutes of standing upright. The aim of this study was to analyze causal connectivity among cerebral hemodynamic changes in head-up tilt test (HUT) of POTS using TCD and Finometer between normal and POTS. Methods: Normal (n=20) and POTS (n=20) were enrolled to monitor the beat-to-beat arterial blood pressure (ABP) using Finometer and Cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in right MCA using TCD. Subjects rested in supine position for 5 min and subjects were abruptly positioned at 80 o from horizontal on a tilt table. Beat-to-Beat ABP pulse intervals (HR) were calculated using foot points of each pulse. We divided HUT into early tilt stage (ETS) and late tilt stage (LTS). We analyzed several variables including ABP, HR, systolic CBFV, critical closing pressure (CrCP) between normal and POTS. To analyze effects of intrinsic spontaneous oscillations known as ‘Mayer waves’, in ABP, CBFV, and HR, the frequency component from 0.06Hz to 0.15Hz was extracted using FIR filter. Then Granger causality was calculated to analyze the changes of causal connectivity of each signal by HUT effects. Results: CrCP during HUT in POTS was significantly larger than normal. Compared with normal, POTS showed significantly increased causal flow of ABP◊HR and HR◊CBFV during ETS and causal flow of CBFV◊ABP during LTS. In paired t-test of state change from supine to ETS, while causal flow of ABP◊CBFV in normal was significantly increased during supine, causal flow of ABP◊CBFV and ABP◊HR in POTS were significantly increased during ETS. In paired t-test of state change from ETS to LTS, while causal flow of HR◊CBFV in normal was significantly increased during ETS, causal flow of ABP◊CBFV and HR◊CBFV in POTS were significantly decreased during LTS. In POTS, causal density of HR◊BP during spine was significantly increased and causal density of HR◊CBFV and BP◊CBFV were significantly decreased during LTS. Discussion: This study showed that increased CrCP during HUT is related with increased coupling of 0.1-Hz oscillations from ABP to HR and from HR to CBFV in POTS. Increased CrCP during HUT may cause the excessive blood pooling and the low effective circulating volume in the central vasculature and can explain symptom of POTS.

Revisiting the Sequence Method for Baroreflex Analysis.

The sequence method is an important approach to assess the baroreflex function, mainly because it is based on the spontaneous fluctuations of beat-by-beat arterial pressure (for example, systolic arterial pressure or SAP) and pulse interval (PI). However, some studies revealed that the baroreflex effectiveness index (BEI), calculated through the sequence method, shows an intriguing oscillatory pattern as function of the delay between SAP and PI. It has been hypothesized that this pattern is related to the respiratory influence on SAP and/or PI variability, limiting the SAP ramps to 3 or 4 beats of length. In this study, this hypothesis was tested by assessing the sequence method using raw (original) and filtered series. Results were contrasted to the well-established transfer function, estimated between SAP and PI. Continuous arterial pressure recordings were obtained from healthy rats (N = 61) and beat-by-beat series of SAP and PI were generated. Low-pass (LP) and high-pass (HP) filtered series of SAP and PI were created by filtering the original series with a cutoff frequency of 0.8 Hz. Original series were analyzed by either the sequence method or cross-spectral analysis (transfer function) at low- (LF) and high- (HF) frequency bands, while filtered series were evaluated only by the sequence method. Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and BEI of original series, calculated by sequence method, was highly (85–90%) determined by HP series, with no significant association between original and LP series. A high correlation (>0.7) was found between the BRS estimated from original series (sequence method) and HF band (transfer function), as well as for LP series (sequence method) and LF band (transfer function). These findings confirmed the hypothesis that the sequence method quantifies only the high-frequency components of the baroreflex, neglecting the low-frequency influences, such as the Mayer waves. Therefore, we propose using both the original and LP filtered time series for a broader assessment of the baroreflex function using the sequence method.

A Dynamic Model of Brain Hemodynamics in Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NiRS) is a noninvasive technology used in measuring oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin changes, neural activation, functional connectivity, and vascular health assessment. In this paper, we propose a dynamic model of the NiRS signal to facilitate a better understanding of the underlying elements of this signal and as a means of validation for existing and new NiRS signal processing algorithms. The model incorporates arterial pulsations, its possible frequency drifts and the reflected waves, the hemodynamic response function (HRF), Mayer waves, respiratory waves and other very low-frequency components of the NiRS signal. Parameter selection and model fitting have been carried out using measurements from a NiRS database. Our database includes 25 participants each with 64 channels, covering all the scalp and therefore providing realistic measures of the varying parameters. We compared synthetic resting-state and HRF-included model outputs with in vivo resting and task-included measurements. The results showed a significant equivalence of the in vivo and synthetic signals. The proposed signal model generates realistic NiRS signals. The model accepts simple physiological and physical parameters to produce realistic NiRS signals and will accelerate the growth of optical signal processing algorithms.

Directional changes in information flow between human brain cortical regions after application of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over Broca's area.

Little work has been done on the information flow in functional brain imaging and none so far in fNIRS. In this work, alterations in the directionality of net information flow induced by a short-duration, low-current (2 min 40 s; 0.5 mA) and a longer-duration, high-current (8 min; 1 mA) anodal tDCS applied over the Broca's area of the dominant language hemisphere were studied by fNIRS. The tDCS-induced patterns of information flow, quantified by a novel directed phase transfer entropy (dPTE) analysis, were distinct for different hemodynamic frequency bands and were qualitatively similar between low and high-current tDCS. In the endothelial band (0.003-0.02 Hz), the stimulated Broca's area became the strongest hub of outgoing information flow, whereas in the neurogenic band (0.02-0.04 Hz) the contralateral homologous area became the strongest information outflow source. In the myogenic band (0.04-0.15 Hz), only global patterns were seen, independent of tDCS stimulation that were interpreted as Mayer waves. These findings showcase dPTE analysis in fNIRS as a novel, complementary tool for studying cortical activity reorganization after an intervention.

Cardiac Conduction Model for Generating 12 Lead ECG Signals With Realistic Heart Rate Dynamics

We present an extended heterogeneous oscillator model of cardiac conduction system for generation of realistic 12 lead ECG waveforms. The model consists of main natural pacemakers represented by modified van der Pol equations, and atrial and ventricular muscles, in which the depolarization and repolarization processes are described by modified FitzHugh-Nagumo equations. We incorporate an artificial RR-tachogram with the specific statistics of a heart rate, the frequency-domain characteristics of heart rate variability produced by Mayer and respiratory sinus arrhythmia waves, normally distributed additive noise and a baseline wander that couple the respiratory frequency. The standard 12 lead ECG is calculated by means of a weighted linear combination of atria and ventricle signals and thus can be fitted to clinical ECG of real subject. The model is capable to simulate accurately realistic ECG characteristics including local pathological phenomena accounting for biophysical properties of the human heart. All these features provide significant advantages over existing nonlinear cardiac models. The proposed model constitutes a useful tool for medical education and for assessment and testing of ECG signal processing software and hardware systems.

Experimental Characterization and Correlation of Mayer Waves in Retinal Vessel Diameter and Arterial Blood Pressure.

Retinal vessels show various biological temporal variations that can impact diagnosis using a static vessel analysis. In this study, Mayer waves in the retinal vessel diameter and arterial blood pressure (BP) signals were characterized, and the temporal correlation between these two modalities was investigated. The arterial and venous vessel diameters and arterial BP were recorded simultaneously on human subjects. The obtained vessel diameters showed vasomotion amplitudes over time. The vessel diameter and BP signals contained multiple signals in the frequency domain and varied over time. The signal characteristics were similar within the measurements. The BP and arterial and venous vessel diameters were correlated. The highest correlation values between the signals were observed for shifts of 1 or 0 periods. The spectrum and amplitudes of the Mayer waves showed a high variability. The Mayer waves in the retinal vessel diameters showed the same characteristics as those in the arterial BP. A temporal dependency between the oscillations in the arterial BP and retinal vessel diameters was shown.

Single-Trial Classification of fNIRS Signals in Four Directions Motor Imagery Tasks Measured From Prefrontal Cortex.

As a promising non-invasive technique, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can easily detect the hemodynamic responses of cortical brain activities. This paper investigated the multiclass classification of motor imagery (MI) based on fNIRS; ten healthy individuals were recruited to move an object using their imagination. A multi-channel continuous-wave fNIRS equipment was applied to obtain the signals from the prefrontal cortex. A combination of ensemble empirical mode decomposition and independent component analysis method was used to solve the signal-noise frequency spectrum aliasing issues caused by the Mayer wave (0.1 Hz), then the signal means features were extracted as an input of linear discriminant analysis and support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The SVM classifier shows better classification results, and the average accuracies of four directions, up-down and left-right were 40.55%, 73.05%, and 70.7%, respectively, using oxygenated hemoglobin (8-21 s). This paper demonstrated that Brodmann area 4 was activated, which is consistent with previous conclusions. Furthermore, we found that the orbitofrontal cortex is also involved in MI and O2sat can also serve as a classified index.

Spontaneous Baroreflex Analysis Through the Sequence Method Quantifies the Respiratory Influences of Baroreflex

The sequence method is one of the most used techniques to evaluate baroreflex function by means of spontaneous fluctuations of arterial pressure (AP). While other methods, such as cross‐spectral analysis, provide only the estimation of gain between AP and heart rate fluctuations, the sequence method offers an estimation of both gain and effectiveness (BEI) of the baroreflex. On the other hand, spectral methods allow the quantification of baroreflex gain in separated frequency bands, such as those associated with Mayer waves (low frequencies) or respiration (high frequencies). In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether the sequence method is able to quantify both low and high‐frequency control of the baroreflex. AP recordings of 61 conscious healthy rats were obtained from previous studies from our laboratory. Raw and low‐pass filtered (cutoff 0.8Hz) series of systolic pressure (SAP) and pulse intervals (PI) were generated from, at least, ten minutes of AP recording. Cross‐spectral analysis (transfer function) was calculated from original series, whereas the sequence method was calculated from both original and filtered series. For cross‐spectral analysis, baroreflex gain (transfer function between SAP and PI) was estimated at low (0.2 to 0.8Hz) and high (0.8 to 3.0Hz) frequencies. The sequence method was calculated for sequences of 3 beats with delays from 0 to 12 beats, with no thresholds for AP and PI and 0.8 as the threshold for correlation of values within sequence candidates. Gain of the transfer function, estimated from original series, was 0.62 ± 0.05 ms/mmHg (low frequency) and 2.27 ± 0.17 ms/mmHg (high frequency). The gain estimated by the sequence method was 3.13 ± 0.24 ms/mmHg (original series) and 1.19 ± 0.08 ms/mmHg (filtered series), whereas BEI was 18 ± 1 % (original series) and 84 ± 1 % (filtered series). Those values refer to delay of one beat, which seems to be the most reasonable timing between AP and PI. We also calculated the correlation coefficient (p) between the gain estimated from the sequence method and the gain measured at low and high frequencies of the transfer function. For original time series, we found p = 0.21 (sequence method vs. low frequency) and p = 0.71 (sequence method vs. high frequency). For filtered time series, we found p = 0.81 (sequence method vs. low frequency) and p = 0.44 (sequence method vs. high frequency). Correlation values are also represented for delay of one beat. In conclusion, the sequence method indices are poorly correlated with the low‐frequency components and highly correlated with the high‐frequency components of the baroreflex; wherein the latter is strongly related to respiration. This is evident in the construction of sequence candidates. Since only monotonic AP ramps (up or down) are accepted for the calculations in the sequence method, AP oscillations due to respiration limit the existence of sequences from slow AP changes. Thus, in order to quantify the low‐frequency components of the baroreflex using the sequence method, it is recommended to filter out the high frequencies prior to the application of the method.Support or Funding InformationFAPESP (grant 2015/20463‐0) and CAPES (grant PNPD 20131672)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

The Influence of Game Demand on Distraction from Experimental Pain: A fNIRS Study

The Influence of Game Demand on Distraction from Experimental Pain: A fNIRS Study

Predictive Value of Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation Assessment in Surgical Management of Patients with High-Grade Carotid Artery Stenosis.

Dynamic cerebral autoregulation (DCA) capacity along with the degree of internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis and characteristics of the plaque can also play an important role in selection of appropriate treatment strategy. This study aims to classify the patients with severe ICA stenosis according to preoperative state of DCA and to assess its dynamics after surgery. Thirty-five patients with severe ICA stenosis having different clinical type of disease underwent reconstructive surgery. DCA was assessed with transfer function analysis (TFA) by calculating phase shift (PS) between Mayer waves of blood flow velocity (BFV) and blood pressure (BP) before and after operation. In 18 cases, regardless of clinical type, preoperative PS on ipsilateral side was within the normal range and did not change considerably after surgery. In other 17 cases preoperative PS was reliably lower both in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic stenosis. Surgical reconstruction led to restoration of impaired DCA evidenced by significant increase of PS in postoperative period. Our data suggest that regardless clinical type of disease various state of DCA may be present in patients with severe ICA stenosis. This finding can contribute to establishing the optimal treatment strategy, and first of all for asymptomatic patients. Patients with compromised DCA should be considered as ones with higher risk of stroke and first candidates for reconstructive surgery.

Investigation of different approaches for noise reduction in functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals for brain–computer interface applications

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive technique to measure the hemodynamic response from the cerebral cortex. The acquired fNIRS signal usually contains influences generated from physiological processes, also called “global” oscillations, in addition to motion artifacts that impede detection of the localized hemodynamic response due to cortical activation. Preprocessing is the fundamental step to enhance the quality of fNIRS signals corresponding to movement tasks for efficient classification of brain–computer interface (BCI) application. Various signal preprocessing approaches such as band-pass filtering, correlation-based signal improvement, median filtering, Savitzky–Golay filtering, wavelet denoising and independent component analysis (ICA) have been investigated on experimental datasets acquired during hand movement tasks and are compared to one another using artifact power attenuation and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) metrics. The results showed that wavelet denoising method attenuated the artifact energy of the datasets belonging to Subjects 1 and 2 as well as enhanced the CNR. In the case of Subject 1, before denoising the values of ΔHbR and ΔHbO were 0.6392 and 0.8710, respectively. Wavelet method improved these values to 0.8085 and 0.9790. In the case of Subject 2, the CNR values of ΔHbR and ΔHbO signals were improved from 0.0221 and 0.0638 to 1.1242 and 0.3460, respectively. In this study, ICA was also demonstrated to suppress noises related to physiological oscillations including Mayer wave influence and other unknown artifacts. It greatly reduced the sharp spikes present in the Subject 2 dataset. On the basis of the results obtained, it can be shown that application of such filtering algorithms for fNIRS signal could effectively classify motor tasks to develop BCI applications.

Blood pressure and hemodynamics: Mayer waves in different phases of ovarian and menstrual cycle in women.

The goal of the research is to investigate the special effect of ovarian-menstrual cycle phases on the level of women's blood pressure and characteristics of Mayer waves. 77 women aged 18-19 were tested under condition close to the state of basal metabolism in follicular phase (I), ovulation (II) and luteal phase (III) of ovarian-menstrual cycle. In phases II and III, the increase of mean and diastolic blood pressure level, in comparison with phase I in the prone position at rest and with psycho-emotional loading, were observed. The distinctions between variation parameters of R-R interval duration, stroke volume and its synchronization in phases II and III, in comparison with phase I, were observed in the prone position at rest, during tilt-test and with psycho-emotional loading. The substantial level of relationship between the power of Mayer waves and mean and diastolic blood pressure, mainly in phase I under conditions of all types, is observed. The maximum peak amplitude of stroke volume spectrogram is associated with pressure levels in the range of 0.04-0.15 Hz (rho from -0.33 to -0.64). The obtained results indicate the possible participation of spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity characteristics in keeping blood pressure level in women.

Increased cerebral blood volume pulsatility during head-down tilt with elevated carbon dioxide: the SPACECOT Study.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have exhibited hyperopic shifts, posterior eye globe flattening, dilated optic nerve sheaths, and even optic disk swelling from spaceflight. Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) consequent to cephalad fluid shifts is commonly hypothesized as contributing to these ocular changes. Head-down tilt (HDT) is frequently utilized as an Earth-based analog to study similar fluid shifts. Sealed environments like the ISS also exhibit elevated CO2, a potent arteriolar vasodilator that could further affect cerebral blood volume (CBV) and cerebral blood flow, intracranial compliance, and ICP. A collaborative pilot study between the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and the German Aerospace Center tested the hypotheses that 1) HDT and elevated CO2 physiologically interact and 2) cerebrovascular pulsatility is related to HDT and/or elevated CO2 In a double-blind crossover study (n = 6), we measured CBV pulsatility via near-infrared spectroscopy, alongside noninvasive ICP and intraocular pressure (IOP) during 28-h -12° HDT at both nominal (0.04%) and elevated (0.5%) ambient CO2 In our cohort, CBV pulsatility increased significantly over time at cardiac frequencies (0.031 ± 0.009 μM/h increase in total hemoglobin concentration pulsatility amplitude) and Mayer wave frequencies (0.019 ± 0.005 μM/h increase). The HDT-CO2 interaction on pulsatility was not robust but rather driven by one individual. Significant differences between atmospheres were not detected in ICP or IOP. Further work is needed to determine whether individual differences in pulsatility responses to CO2 relate to visual changes in space.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Cerebral blood volume (CBV) pulsatility-as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy-increases over time during -12° head-down tilt at both cardiac and Mayer wave frequencies. CBV pulsatility appeared to increase more under elevated (0.5%) CO2 at Mayer wave frequencies in some individuals. If similar dynamic pulsatility increases occur in astronauts, there is the potential to initiate vascular and possibly other remodeling processes that lead to symptoms associated with sustained increases in intracranial pressure.

Physiological Effects of Continuous Colored Light Exposure on Mayer Wave Activity in Cerebral Hemodynamics: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study.

We are increasingly exposed to colored light, but its impact on human physiology is not yet extensively investigated. In the present study we aimed to determine the effects of colored light on human cerebral Mayer wave activity (MWA). We measured oxy- ([O2Hb]), deoxy- ([HHb]), total hemoglobin ([tHb]) concentrations and tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in the left and right pre-frontal cortex (L-PFC, R-PFC) of 17 subjects (medianage: 29 years, 6 women). In a randomized crossover design subjects were exposed to blue, red, green, and yellow LED light for 10 min. Pre-light (8 min, baseline) and post-light (15 min, recovery) conditions were darkness. MWA was calculated from band-pass filteredfNIRS signals (~0.08-0.12 Hz). The medians from the last 3 min of each period (baseline, light exposure, recovery) were statistically analyzed. MWA was increased during red and green light vs. baseline and after blue light exposure in recovery in the L-PFC. MWA differed depending on the chosen frequency range, filter design, and type of signals to analyze (raw intensity, hemoglobin signal from multi-distance method or modified Beer-Lambert law, or within hemoglobin signals).

Severe carotid stenosis: cerebral autoregulation in the ipsilateral region

To study cerebral autoregulation (CA) in region of the stenotic carotid artery. The study involved 35 patients with critical stenosis of the carotid arteries, including 24 patients were asymptomatic and 11 patients with symptomatic course. Blood flow velocity in middle cerebral arteries was monitored using Multi Dop X (DWL, Germany) with simultaneous noninvasive systemic blood pressure registration (CNAP, Austria). CA was assessed by calculating the phase shift (PS) between spontaneous oscillations of blood flow velocity and blood pressure within the range of systemic Mayer waves (80-120 mHz). In 18 patients, the CA indicators were in the normal range (PS 1.2±0.3 rad). Seventeen patients, including asymptomatic as well as symptomatic types, had impaired CA (PS 0.2±0.2 rad and 0.3±0.2 rad, respectively). Reconstructive surgery, irrespective of clinical manifestations, led to the significant increase in PS (p<0.001) in the early postoperative period (0.9±0.5 and 0.9±0.3 rad, respectively). A significant variability in the cerebrovascular reserve capacity in symptomatic and asymptomatic types of carotid artery stenosis was found. CA can be used in determining the indications for surgical treatment and evaluation of its effectiveness in patients with stenosis of carotid arteries.

Mayer waves reduce the accuracy of estimated hemodynamic response functions in functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Analysis of cerebral hemodynamics reveals a wide spectrum of oscillations ranging from 0.0095 to 2 Hz. While most of these oscillations can be filtered out during analysis of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals when estimating stimulus evoked hemodynamic responses, oscillations around 0.1 Hz are an exception. This is due to the fact that they share a common spectral range with typical stimulus evoked hemodynamic responses from the brain. Here we investigate the effect of hemodynamic oscillations around 0.1 Hz on the estimation of hemodynamic response functions from fNIRS data. Our results show that for an expected response of ~1 µM in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (HbO), Mayer wave oscillations with an amplitude > ~1 µM at 0.1 Hz reduce the accuracy of the estimated response as quantified by a 3 fold increase in the mean squared error and decrease in correlation (R(2) below 0.78) when compared to the true HRF. These results indicate that the amplitude of oscillations at 0.1 Hz can serve as an objective metric of the expected HRF estimation accuracy. In addition, we investigated the effect of short separation regression on the recovered HRF, and found that this improves the recovered HRF when large amplitude 0.1 Hz oscillations are present in fNIRS data. We suspect that the development of other filtering strategies may provide even further improvement.

Cerebral functional connectivity and Mayer waves in mice: Phenomena and separability

Resting-state functional connectivity is a growing neuroimaging approach that analyses the spatiotemporal structure of spontaneous brain activity, often using low-frequency (<0.08 Hz) hemodynamics. In addition to these fluctuations, there are two other low-frequency hemodynamic oscillations in a nearby spectral region (0.1–0.4 Hz) that have been reported in the brain: vasomotion and Mayer waves. Despite how close in frequency these phenomena exist, there is little research on how vasomotion and Mayer waves are related to or affect resting-state functional connectivity. In this study, we analyze spontaneous hemodynamic fluctuations over the mouse cortex using optical intrinsic signal imaging. We found spontaneous occurrence of oscillatory hemodynamics ∼0.2 Hz consistent with the properties of Mayer waves reported in the literature. Across a group of mice (n = 19), there was a large variability in the magnitude of Mayer waves. However, regardless of the magnitude of Mayer waves, functional connectivity patterns could be recovered from hemodynamic signals when filtered to the lower frequency band, 0.01–0.08 Hz. Our results demonstrate that both Mayer waves and resting-state functional connectivity patterns can co-exist simultaneously, and that they can be separated by applying bandpass filters.

Ventricular Volume Load Reveals the Mechanoelastic Impact of Communicating Hydrocephalus on Dynamic Cerebral Autoregulation.

Several studies have shown that the progression of communicating hydrocephalus is associated with diminished cerebral perfusion and microangiopathy. If communicating hydrocephalus similarly alters the cerebrospinal fluid circulation and cerebral blood flow, both may be related to intracranial mechanoelastic properties as, for instance, the volume pressure compliance. Twenty-three shunted patients with communicating hydrocephalus underwent intraventricular constant-flow infusion with Hartmann’s solution. The monitoring included transcranial Doppler (TCD) flow velocities (FV) in the middle (MCA) and posterior cerebral arteries (PCA), intracranial pressure (ICP), and systemic arterial blood pressure (ABP). The analysis covered cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), the index of pressure-volume compensatory reserve (RAP), and phase shift angles between Mayer waves (3 to 9 cpm) in ABP and MCA-FV or PCA-FV. Due to intraventricular infusion, the pressure-volume reserve was exhausted (RAP) 0.84+/-0.1 and ICP was increased from baseline 11.5+/-5.6 to plateau levels of 20.7+/-6.4 mmHg. The ratio dRAP/dICP distinguished patients with large 0.1+/-0.01, medium 0.05+/-0.02, and small 0.02+/-0.01 intracranial volume compliances. Both M wave phase shift angles (r = 0.64; p<0.01) and CPP (r = 0.36; p<0.05) displayed a gradual decline with decreasing dRAP/dICP gradients. This study showed that in communicating hydrocephalus, CPP and dynamic cerebral autoregulation in particular, depend on the volume-pressure compliance. The results suggested that the alteration of mechanoelastic characteristics contributes to a reduced cerebral perfusion and a loss of autonomy of cerebral blood flow regulation. Results warrant a prospective TCD follow-up to verify whether the alteration of dynamic cerebral autoregulation may indicate a progression of communicating hydrocephalus.

Arousal dynamics drive vocal production in marmoset monkeys.

Vocal production is the result of interacting cognitive and autonomic processes. Despite claims that changes in one interoceptive state (arousal) govern primate vocalizations, we know very little about how it influences their likelihood and timing. In this study we investigated the role of arousal during naturally occurring vocal production in marmoset monkeys. Throughout each session, naturally occurring contact calls are produced more quickly, and with greater probability, during higher levels of arousal, as measured by heart rate. On average, we observed a steady increase in heart rate 23 s before the production of a call. Following call production, there is a sharp and steep cardiac deceleration lasting ∼8 s. The dynamics of cardiac fluctuations around a vocalization cannot be completely predicted by the animal's respiration or movement. Moreover, the timing of vocal production was tightly correlated to the phase of a 0.1-Hz autonomic nervous system rhythm known as the Mayer wave. Finally, a compilation of the state space of arousal dynamics during vocalization illustrated that perturbations to the resting state space increase the likelihood of a call occurring. Together, these data suggest that arousal dynamics are critical for spontaneous primate vocal production, not only as a robust predictor of the likelihood of vocal onset but also as scaffolding on which behavior can unfold.