Neural oscillatory markers of respiratory sensory gating in human cortices

Kai-Jie Liang; Chia-Hsiung Cheng; Chia-Yih Liu; Andreas von Leupoldt; Valentina Jelinčić; Pei-Ying S Chan

doi:10.1016/j.bj.2023.100683

Neural oscillatory markers of respiratory sensory gating in human cortices

Biomed J. 2023 Dec 9:100683. doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2023.100683. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kai-Jie Liang¹, Chia-Hsiung Cheng², Chia-Yih Liu³, Andreas von Leupoldt⁴, Valentina Jelinčić⁴, Pei-Ying S Chan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan.
² Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkuo, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan; Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Neural Dynamics (BIND Lab), Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkuo, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan.
⁴ Research Group Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkuo, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan. Electronic address: chanp@cgu.edu.tw.

PMID: 38081385
DOI: 10.1016/j.bj.2023.100683

Abstract

Background: Human respiratory sensory gating is a neural process associated with inhibiting the cortical processing of repetitive respiratory mechanical stimuli. While this gating is typically examined in the time domain, the neural oscillatory dynamics, which could offer supplementary insights into respiratory sensory gating, remain unknown. The purpose of the present study was to investigate central neural gating of respiratory sensation using both time- and frequency-domain analyses.

Methods: A total of 37 healthy adults participated in this study. Two transient inspiratory occlusions were presented within one inspiration, while responses in the electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded. N1 amplitudes and oscillatory activities to the first stimulus (S1) and the second stimulus (S2) were measured. The perceived level of breathlessness and level of unpleasantness elicited by the occlusions were measured after the experiment.

Results: As expected, the N1 peak amplitude to the S1 was significantly larger than to the S2. The averaged respiratory sensory gating S2/S1 ratio for the N1 peak amplitude was 0.71. For both the evoked- and induced-oscillations, time-frequency analysis showed higher theta activations in response to S1 relative to S2. A positive correlation was observed between the perceived unpleasantness and induced theta power.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that theta oscillations, evoked as well as induced, reflect the "gating" of respiratory sensation. Theta oscillation, particularly theta induced power, may be indicative of emotional processing of respiratory mechanosensation. The findings of this study serve as a foundation for future investigations into the underlying mechanisms of respiratory sensory gating, particularly in patient populations.

Keywords: Alpha; Mechanosensation; RREP; Respiratory sensation; Theta.