背景:炎症过程有助于保护身体免受细菌或病毒入侵等潜在威胁。然而,当这种炎症过程长期参与时,突触损伤和神经元细胞死亡可能发生。特别是,持续高水平的C反应蛋白(CRP)和肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)与认知功能缺陷和一些精神疾病有关.诸如流体智力(Gf)之类的高阶认知过程被认为特别容易受到持续性炎症的影响。在这里,我们研究了CRP和TNF-α升高与Gf的神经振荡动力学之间的关系。
方法:70名年龄在20-66岁之间的成年人(平均值=45.17岁,SD=16.29,21.4%女性)完成了抽象推理任务,该任务在脑磁图(MEG)期间探测Gf,并提供血液样本用于炎症标记物分析。MEG数据在时频域成像,使用每个振荡反应的每个个体的血浆CRP和TNF-α浓度进行全脑回归,控制年龄,BMI,和教育。
结果:CRP和TNF-α水平与区域特异性神经振荡反应显著相关。特别是,CRP浓度升高与右额下回和右小脑的γ活性减弱有关.相比之下,在左前扣带回和左颞中,TNF-α水平升高与α/β振荡成比例,左顶内沟的γ活性。
结论:炎症标志物如CRP和TNF-α升高与Gf重要区域的异常神经振荡相关。将炎症标志物与区域神经振荡联系起来可能在识别认知和精神疾病的机制方面具有希望。
Inflammatory processes help protect the body from potential threats such as bacterial or viral invasions. However, when such inflammatory processes become chronically engaged, synaptic impairments and neuronal cell death may occur. In particular, persistently high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) have been linked to deficits in cognition and several psychiatric disorders. Higher-order cognitive processes such as fluid intelligence (Gf) are thought to be particularly vulnerable to persistent inflammation. Herein, we investigated the relationship between elevated CRP and TNF-α and the neural oscillatory dynamics serving Gf.
Seventy adults between the ages of 20-66 years (Mean = 45.17 years, SD = 16.29, 21.4% female) completed an abstract reasoning task that probes Gf during magnetoencephalography (MEG) and provided a blood sample for inflammatory marker analysis. MEG data were imaged in the time-frequency domain, and whole-brain regressions were conducted using each individual\'s plasma CRP and TNF-α concentrations per oscillatory response, controlling for age, BMI, and education.
CRP and TNF-α levels were significantly associated with region-specific neural oscillatory responses. In particular, elevated CRP concentrations were associated with altered gamma activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right cerebellum. In contrast, elevated TNF-α levels scaled with alpha/beta oscillations in the left anterior cingulate and left middle temporal, and gamma activity in the left intraparietal sulcus.
Elevated inflammatory markers such as CRP and TNF-α were associated with aberrant neural oscillations in regions important for Gf. Linking inflammatory markers with regional neural oscillations may hold promise in identifying mechanisms of cognitive and psychiatric disorders.