Delayed electric shocks delivered to the skin during early cardiac systole significantly attenuated mean arterial pressure increases compared with ECG R-wave synchronous shocks, and elicited differential neural responses in the amygdala, insula, and pons.
p-value: p=0.001
Central nervous processing of environmental stimuli requires integration of sensory information with ongoing autonomic control of cardiovascular function. Rhythmic feedback of cardiac and baroreceptor activity contributes dynamically to homeostatic autonomic control. We examined how the processing of brief somatosensory stimuli is altered across the cardiac cycle to evoke differential changes in bodily state. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging of brain and noninvasive beat-to-beat cardiovascular monitoring, we show that stimuli presented before and during early cardiac systole elicited differential changes in neural activity within amygdala, anterior insula and pons, and engendered different effects on blood pressure. Stimulation delivered during early systole inhibited blood pressure increases. Individual differences in heart rate variability predicted magnitude of differential cardiac timing responses within periaqueductal gray, amygdala and insula. Our findings highlight integration of somatosensory and phasic baroreceptor information at cortical, limbic and brainstem levels, with relevance to mechanisms underlying pain control, hypertension and anxiety.
Gray et al. (Wed,) conducted a other in Healthy adults (n=11). ECG R-wave delayed electrical skin shocks vs. ECG R-wave synchronous electrical skin shocks was evaluated on Mean arterial pressure (MAP) response (p=0.001). Delayed electric shocks delivered to the skin during early cardiac systole significantly attenuated mean arterial pressure increases compared with ECG R-wave synchronous shocks, and elicited differential neural responses in the amygdala, insula, and pons.