Evoking severe 'air hunger' by restraining ventilation in healthy subjects activated the insular cortex on PET imaging.
Does evoking severe 'air hunger' activate specific cerebral cortex structures in healthy subjects?
The perception of severe 'air hunger' activates the insular cortex, a limbic structure involved in homeostasis and survival behaviors.
Dyspnea (shortness of breath, breathlessness) is a major and disabling symptom of heart and lung disease. The representation of dyspnea in the cerebral cortex is unknown. In the first study designed to explore the central neural structures underlying perception of dyspnea, we evoked the perception of severe 'air hunger' in healthy subjects by restraining ventilation below spontaneous levels while holding arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide levels constant. PET revealed that air hunger activated the insular cortex. The insula is a limbic structure also activated by visceral stimuli, temperature, taste, nausea and pain. Like dyspnea, such perceptions underlie behaviors essential to homeostasis and survival.
Banzett et al. (Sat,) conducted a other in Healthy. Evoked severe 'air hunger' via restrained ventilation was evaluated on Activation of central neural structures measured by PET. Evoking severe 'air hunger' by restraining ventilation in healthy subjects activated the insular cortex on PET imaging.