Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University
2. Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine 4, INM-4, Forschungszentrum Jülich
Abstract
Abstract
The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) is a key hub of the default mode network and is known to play an important role in attention. Using ultra-high field 7 Tesla magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to quantify neurometabolite concentrations, this exploratory study investigated the effect of the absolute concentrations of myo-inositol (Ins), glutamate (Glu), glutamine (Gln), aspartate or aspartic acid (Asp) and gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) in the PCC on attention in forty-six healthy participants. Each participant underwent an MRS scan and cognitive testing, consisting of a trail-making test (TMT A/B) and a test of attentional performance (TAP). After a multiple regression analysis and bootstrapping for correction, the findings show that Ins and Asp significantly influence (p < .05) attentional tasks. Whereas sugar Ins improves TMT A and TMT B times, aspartate leads to more mistakes in go/no-go tasks and shows a trend towards enhancing reaction time in go/no-go tasks and stability of alertness without signal. No significant (p > .05) influence of Glu, Gln and GABA was observed.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC
Reference81 articles.
1. Functional connectivity of default mode network components: Correlation, anticorrelation, and causality;Uddin LQ;Human Brain Mapping,2009
2. The brain's default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease;Buckner RL;Annals of the new York Academy of Sciences,2008
3. Margulies, D. S. et al. Situating the default-mode network along a principal gradient of macroscale cortical organization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, 12574–12579, doi:doi:10.1073/pnas.1608282113 (2016).
4. The brain's default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease;Buckner RL;Ann N Y Acad Sci,2008
5. Mason, M. F. et al. Wandering minds: the default network and stimulus-independent thought. science 315, 393–395 (2007).