Olfactory nerve as channel for Electrical Stimulation of the Salience Network

嗅觉神经作为显着网络电刺激的通道

• 批准号: 468395727
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Ilona Croy
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Department of Neurobiology
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/468395727?language=en
• 关键词: Olfactory; nerve; channel; Electrical; Stimulation

Depression is a severe mental disorder, affecting about 7,000,000 people in Germany. Besides leading to significant impairments of quality of life, depression has a high case fatality. Hence, an effective anti-depressive treatment is warranted. For very severe or medication-resistant cases, electro-convulsive therapy is the state of the art option leading to alterations of the genesis of synapses, neurons and glia cells in the region of the amygdala, hippocampus, the anterior cingulate Cortex (ACC) and medial and inferior temporal cortex. This treatment has however side effects, which is why a broader variety of treatment options is desirable. Because depression is specifically related to impaired salience network processing, a focussed approach may target relevant brain regions, such as the ACC, the anterior insula and the amygdala. We are confident that stimulation via the olfactory nerve is a promising pathway. Major depressive disorder presents a close anatomical and functional overlap with olfaction - vulnerability to depression is enhanced by a factor of three in patients with smell disorders and major depression is often accompanied by reduced olfactory function. This relation originates from the close connection between central olfactory structures and structures involved in salience processing and is based on a co-evolution of functions. Chemosensation is the oldest form of communication between species, emerging 500 million years ago and the central structures, originally dedicated to olfactory processing, are now pivotal for emotion processing. Our previous and preliminary work suggests that stimulation of the olfactory tract can alter the reactivity of central salience structures to emotional stimuli. A recent publication from another group showed, that brain connectivity within olfactory regions can be altered by electrical stimulation of the olfactory epithelium. It has not been examined yet, whether electrical stimulation of the olfactory nerve impacts the neural functioning in terms of connectivity or activation of salience relevant structures, such as the amygdala, the anterior insula and the ACC. We aim to examine this possibility in healthy participants by examining how intranasal electrical stimulation alters behavioural emotion responses and neural activity and connectivity in the salience network. Our research group has both the knowledge and the equipment for successful stimulation of the olfactory epithelium, for brain network analysis and for studying emotion behavior. The interdisciplinary of our team furthermore allows us to continuously include a clinical perspective in this basic research proposal. This project has the potential to pave the way for a focused and only mildly invasive stimulation of the salience network in patients with severe depression.

抑郁症是一种严重的精神障碍，在德国约有700万人患有抑郁症。除了导致生活质量的严重损害外，抑郁症的病死率很高。因此，有效的抗抑郁治疗是必要的。对于非常严重或耐药的病例，电惊厥治疗是最先进的选择，导致杏仁核、海马、前扣带皮层（ACC）以及内侧和下颞叶皮层区域中突触、神经元和神经胶质细胞发生改变。然而，这种治疗有副作用，这就是为什么更广泛的治疗选择是可取的。因为抑郁症与受损的显著性网络处理特别相关，所以集中的方法可以针对相关的大脑区域，例如ACC，前额叶和杏仁核。我们相信，通过嗅觉神经刺激是一个有前途的途径。重度抑郁症在解剖学和功能上与嗅觉有密切的重叠--在嗅觉障碍患者中，抑郁症的脆弱性增加了三倍，重度抑郁症通常伴有嗅觉功能下降。这种关系起源于中央嗅觉结构和显著性加工结构之间的密切联系，并基于功能的共同进化。化学感觉是物种之间最古老的交流形式，出现于5亿年前，最初用于嗅觉处理的中央结构现在是情感处理的关键。我们以前的初步工作表明，刺激嗅觉可以改变中央显着结构的反应，情绪刺激。另一个研究小组最近发表的一篇文章表明，嗅觉区域内的大脑连接可以通过电刺激嗅觉上皮来改变。它还没有被检查，是否电刺激的嗅觉神经影响的神经功能的连接或激活的显着性相关的结构，如杏仁核，前额叶和ACC. We的目的是检查这种可能性在健康的参与者通过检查鼻内电刺激如何改变行为的情绪反应和神经活动和显着性网络的连接。我们的研究小组拥有成功刺激嗅上皮、大脑网络分析和研究情绪行为的知识和设备。此外，我们团队的跨学科使我们能够在这项基础研究提案中不断纳入临床视角。该项目有可能为重度抑郁症患者的显著性网络的集中和轻度侵入性刺激铺平道路。