The role of the insular cortex in interoceptive processes in mental health disorders

精神健康障碍是最常见的疾病形式之一，并造成全球疾病负担的一些最高水平。治疗上的缺陷可能是由于缺乏对这些疾病背后的机制的了解。我的博士学位将专注于使用实验方法整合内感加工的认知和神经机制。内感是对身体信号的处理，是一种在一系列精神健康障碍中改变的跨诊断特征。呼吸是一种重要的内感方式，与焦虑和焦虑症的感觉特别相关。岛叶皮质及其亚区被认为是一系列内感过程的中枢。然而，到目前为止，很少有研究将临床人群中异常的认知和生物呼吸内感觉结合起来。我的项目将1)使用功能磁共振成像来确定焦虑症和其他形式的精神病理学中呼吸内感变化的神经关联，并特别关注脑岛；以及2)使用非侵入性经颅超声刺激(TUS)暂时抑制脑岛，并测量这对精神健康障碍患者和健康对照组神经和行为呼吸内感的影响。这将结合现有的和新的技术来建立一个更好的模型，了解大脑在精神健康状况下是如何改变的，这将有助于改进治疗选择。

Mental health disorders are among the most common forms of disease and create some of the highest levels of globaldisease burden. Deficits in treatment are likely due to a lack of understanding of the mechanisms underlying thesedisorders. My PhD will focus on using experimental approaches to integrate the cognitive and neural mechanisms ofinteroceptive processing. Interoception is the processing of bodily signals and is a transdiagnostic feature that is alteredin a range of mental health disorders. Respiration is an important interoceptive modality that is particularly associatedwith feelings of anxiety and anxiety disorders. The insular cortex and its sub-regions have been identified as a hub for arange of interoceptive processes. However, to date, little research has integrated abnormal cognitive and biologicalrespiratory interoception in clinical populations. My project will 1) use fMRI to identify the neural correlates of alteredrespiratory interoception in anxiety disorders and other forms of psychopathology, with a specific focus on the insula; and2) use non-invasive Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) to temporarily inhibit the insula and measure the effectsthis has on neural and behavioural respiratory interoception in those with mental health disorders and healthy controls.This will combine established and novel techniques to build a better model of how the brain is altered in mental healthconditions, which will help to improve treatment options.