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Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2022Pain is a complex phenomenon that arises from the interaction of multiple neuroanatomic and neurochemical systems with several cognitive and affective processes....
Pain is a complex phenomenon that arises from the interaction of multiple neuroanatomic and neurochemical systems with several cognitive and affective processes. Nowadays, the assessment of pain intensity still relies on the use of self-reports. However, recent research has shown a connection between the perception of pain and exacerbated stress response in the Autonomic Nervous System. As a result, there has been an increasing analysis of the use of autonomic reactivity with the objective to assess pain. In the present study, the methods include pre-processing, feature extraction, and feature analysis. For the purpose of understanding and characterizing physiological responses of pain, different physiological signals were, simultaneously, recorded while a pain-inducing protocol was performed. The obtained results, for the electrocardiogram (ECG), showed a statistically significant increase in the heart rate, during the painful period compared to non-painful periods. Additionally, heart rate variability features demonstrated a decrease in the Parasympathetic Nervous System influence. The features from the electromyogram (EMG) showed an increase in power and contraction force of the muscle during the pain induction task. Lastly, the electrodermal activity (EDA) showed an adjustment of the sudomotor activity, implying an increase in the Sympathetic Nervous System activity during the experience of pain.
Topics: Humans; Autonomic Nervous System; Heart Rate; Sympathetic Nervous System; Pain; Electrocardiography
PubMed: 36501978
DOI: 10.3390/s22239276 -
CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics Feb 2024Autonomic dysfunction with central autonomic network (CAN) damage occurs frequently after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and contributes to a series of adverse outcomes.... (Review)
Review
AIMS
Autonomic dysfunction with central autonomic network (CAN) damage occurs frequently after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and contributes to a series of adverse outcomes. This review aims to provide insight and convenience for future clinical practice and research on autonomic dysfunction in ICH patients.
DISCUSSION
We summarize the autonomic dysfunction in ICH from the aspects of potential mechanisms, clinical significance, assessment, and treatment strategies. The CAN structures mainly include insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, nucleus of the solitary tract, ventrolateral medulla, dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, nucleus ambiguus, parabrachial nucleus, and periaqueductal gray. Autonomic dysfunction after ICH is closely associated with neurological functional outcomes, cardiac complications, blood pressure fluctuation, immunosuppression and infection, thermoregulatory dysfunction, hyperglycemia, digestive dysfunction, and urogenital disturbances. Heart rate variability, baroreflex sensitivity, skin sympathetic nerve activity, sympathetic skin response, and plasma catecholamine concentration can be used to assess the autonomic functional activities after ICH. Risk stratification of patients according to autonomic functional activities, and development of intervention approaches based on the restoration of sympathetic-parasympathetic balance, would potentially improve clinical outcomes in ICH patients.
CONCLUSION
The review systematically summarizes the evidence of autonomic dysfunction and its association with clinical outcomes in ICH patients, proposing that targeting autonomic dysfunction could be potentially investigated to improve the clinical outcomes.
Topics: Humans; Autonomic Nervous System; Sympathetic Nervous System; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases; Vagus Nerve; Cerebral Hemorrhage; Heart Rate
PubMed: 38372446
DOI: 10.1111/cns.14544 -
American Journal of Physiology.... Aug 2015Stress- and anxiety-related disorders are on the rise in both military and general populations. Over the next decade, it is predicted that treatment of these conditions,... (Review)
Review
Stress- and anxiety-related disorders are on the rise in both military and general populations. Over the next decade, it is predicted that treatment of these conditions, in particular, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), along with its associated long-term comorbidities, will challenge the health care system. Multiple organ systems are adversely affected by PTSD, and PTSD is linked to cancer, arthritis, digestive disease, and cardiovascular disease. Evidence for a strong link between PTSD and cardiovascular disease is compelling, and this review describes current clinical data linking PTSD to cardiovascular disease, via inflammation, autonomic dysfunction, and the renin-angiotensin system. Recent clinical and preclinical evidence regarding the role of the renin-angiotensin system in the extinction of fear memory and relevance in PTSD-related immune and autonomic dysfunction is also addressed.
Topics: Animals; Autonomic Nervous System; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Humans; Inflammation; Inflammation Mediators; Prognosis; Renin-Angiotensin System; Risk Factors; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
PubMed: 26062635
DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00343.2014 -
Neuroscience Letters Feb 2019Arousal plays a central role in a wide variety of phenomena, including wakefulness, autonomic function, affect and emotion. Despite its importance, it remains unclear as... (Review)
Review
Arousal plays a central role in a wide variety of phenomena, including wakefulness, autonomic function, affect and emotion. Despite its importance, it remains unclear as to how the neural mechanisms for arousal are organized across them. In this article, we review neuroscience findings for three of the most common origins of arousal: wakeful arousal, autonomic arousal, and affective arousal. Our review makes two overarching points. First, research conducted primarily in non-human animals underscores the importance of several subcortical nuclei that contribute to various sources of arousal, motivating the need for an integrative framework. Thus, we outline an integrative neural reference space as a key first step in developing a more systematic understanding of central nervous system contributions to arousal. Second, there is a translational gap between research on non-human animals, which emphasizes subcortical nuclei, and research on humans using non-invasive neuroimaging techniques, which focuses more on gross anatomical characterizations of cortical (e.g. network architectures including the default mode network) and subcortical structures. We forecast the importance of high-field neuroimaging in bridging this gap to examine how the various networks within the neural reference space for arousal operate across varieties of arousal-related phenomena.
Topics: Animals; Arousal; Autonomic Nervous System; Brain; Brain Mapping; Brain Stem; Humans; Neuroimaging; Sleep; Wakefulness
PubMed: 29378297
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2018.01.042 -
Neuron Apr 2015Although the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in mediating the flight-or-fight response was recognized decades ago, the crucial role of peripheral... (Review)
Review
Although the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in mediating the flight-or-fight response was recognized decades ago, the crucial role of peripheral innervation in regulating cell behavior and response to the microenvironment has only recently emerged. In the hematopoietic system, the ANS regulates stem cell niche homeostasis and regeneration and fine-tunes the inflammatory response. Additionally, emerging data suggest that cancer cells take advantage of innervating neural circuitry to promote their progression. These new discoveries outline the need to redesign therapeutic strategies to target this underappreciated stromal constituent. Here, we review the importance of neural signaling in hematopoietic homeostasis, inflammation, and cancer.
Topics: Autonomic Nervous System; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases; Bone Marrow; Comorbidity; Depression; Hematopoiesis; Homeostasis; Humans; Inflammation; Leukemia, Myeloid; Neoplasms; Neuropeptides; Neurotransmitter Agents; Stress, Psychological; Survival Rate
PubMed: 25905810
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.01.026 -
Psychophysiology Oct 2020The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has demonstrated utility for identifying alterations in emotion processing associated with common psychopathology, including...
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has demonstrated utility for identifying alterations in emotion processing associated with common psychopathology, including depression and anxiety. To date though the majority of this ANS research has several limitations. Most studies have examined parasympathetic and sympathetic branches separately, requiring activity in the other branch be inferred. This is problematic as each branch may function independently. Composite indices such as cardiac autonomic balance (CAB) and cardiac autonomic regulation (CAR) which examine the relative input between respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP) should provide more comprehensive measures of autonomic functioning and thus stronger predictors of psychopathology. However, the sympathetic branch is driven by multiple neurotransmitter systems, thus PEP does not necessarily reflect overall SNS arousal. We propose two new metrics for assessing ANS functioning associated with psychopathology: parasympathetic effects on cardiac control (RSA) relative to sympathetic effects on the eccrine system (electrodermal activity, EDA), which we term cross-system autonomic balance (CSAB) and regulation (CSAR). Eighty-five women (18-37) completed a baseline physiological assessment with parasympathetic (RSA) and sympathetic indices (PEP, EDA), along with self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms. Lower CSAB, indicating sympathetic dominance driven by cholinergic neurotransmission, was associated with higher depressive and anxiety symptoms. Lower CAB indicating sympathetic dominance driven by beta-adrenergic neurotransmission was associated specifically with depressive symptoms. CSAB was a more robust index than RSA. Results support the utility of assessing multiple composite ANS indices for identifying physiological substrates of alterations in emotion regulation associated with internalizing disorders.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Anxiety; Autonomic Nervous System; Cardiography, Impedance; Depression; Emotional Regulation; Female; Galvanic Skin Response; Heart Rate; Humans; Parasympathetic Nervous System; Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia; Sympathetic Nervous System; Young Adult
PubMed: 33460174
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13636 -
Journal of Internal Medicine Jul 2017Imbalance in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been observed in many established chronic autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is a... (Review)
Review
Imbalance in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been observed in many established chronic autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is a prototypic immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID). We recently discovered that autonomic dysfunction precedes and predicts arthritis development in subjects at risk of developing seropositive RA. In addition, RA patients with relatively high vagus nerve tone (higher parasympathetic parameters, measured by heart rate variability) respond better to antirheumatic therapies. Together, these data suggest that the ANS may control inflammation in humans. This notion is supported by experimental studies in animal models of RA. We have found that stimulation of the so-called cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway by efferent electrical vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) or pharmacological activation of the alpha7 subunit of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChR) improves clinical signs and symptoms of arthritis, reduces cytokine production and protects against progressive joint destruction. Conversely, increased arthritis activity was observed in alpha7nAChR knockout mice. These studies together with previous work in animal models of sepsis and other forms of inflammation provided the rationale for an experimental clinical trial in patients with RA. We could for the first time show that an implantable vagus nerve stimulator inhibits peripheral blood cytokine production in humans. VNS significantly inhibited TNF and IL-6 production and improved RA disease severity, even in some patients with therapy-resistant disease. This work strongly supports further studies using a bioelectronic approach to treat RA and other IMIDs.
Topics: Animals; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Autonomic Nervous System; Humans; Vagus Nerve Stimulation
PubMed: 28547815
DOI: 10.1111/joim.12626 -
Heart Failure Clinics Apr 2015"Heart failure is an increasingly prevalent disease with high mortality and public health burden. It is associated with autonomic imbalance characterized by sympathetic... (Review)
Review
"Heart failure is an increasingly prevalent disease with high mortality and public health burden. It is associated with autonomic imbalance characterized by sympathetic hyperactivity and parasympathetic hypoactivity. Evolving novel interventional and device-based therapies have sought to restore autonomic balance by neuromodulation. Results of preclinical animal studies and early clinical trials have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of these therapies in heart failure. This article discusses specific neuromodulatory treatment modalities individually-spinal cord stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, baroreceptor activation therapy, and renal sympathetic nerve denervation."
Topics: Animals; Autonomic Nervous System; Baroreflex; Heart; Heart Failure; Humans; Kidney; Sympathectomy; Treatment Outcome; Vagus Nerve Stimulation
PubMed: 25834979
DOI: 10.1016/j.hfc.2014.12.010 -
Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology... 2019
Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Autonomic Nervous System; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Gene Regulatory Networks; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Molecular Targeted Therapy
PubMed: 30981632
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2019.03.002 -
Child Maltreatment Feb 2020Child maltreatment may affect autonomic nervous system (ANS) responsivity, and ANS responsivity may influence the impact of child maltreatment on later outcomes... (Review)
Review
Child maltreatment may affect autonomic nervous system (ANS) responsivity, and ANS responsivity may influence the impact of child maltreatment on later outcomes including long-term mental/physical health. This review systematically evaluated the evidence regarding effects of maltreatment on ANS responsivity in children and examined how ANS responsivity may influence the association between maltreatment and psychopathology, with attention to relevant developmental issues. We searched the literature for relevant studies using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched five electronic databases, performed key word searches in relevant journals, hand searched reference sections of relevant articles, and contacted experts in the field. Articles were extracted according to inclusion criteria and their quality assessed. The search produced 1,388 articles; 22 met inclusion criteria. Most of the studies suggested blunted cardiovascular responsivity generally and sympathetic activation specifically in response to stress in maltreated children compared to nonmaltreated children. Findings around vagal responsivity and skin conductance were mixed. Limited evidence was found for ANS responsivity as a moderator or mediator of psychopathology risk among maltreated children. Maltreatment may be associated with blunted sympathetic activation in stressful situations. Differences in ANS responsivity may influence psychopathology risk among maltreated children. Further research is needed to confirm the nature and magnitude of such effects.
Topics: Autonomic Nervous System; Cardiography, Impedance; Child; Child Abuse; Female; Humans; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System; Male; Psychopathology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
PubMed: 31177826
DOI: 10.1177/1077559519848497