Practice of a novel task leads to improved performance. The brain mechanisms associated with practice-induced improvement in performance are largely unknown. To address this question we have examined the functional anatomy of the human brain with positron emission tomography (PET) during the naive and practiced performance of a simple verbal response selection task (saying an appropriate verb for a visually presented noun). As a control state, subjects were asked to repeat the visually presented nouns. Areas of the brain most active during naive performance (anterior cingulate, left prefrontal and left posterior temporal cortices, and the right cerebellar hemisphere), compared to repeating the visually presented nouns, were all significantly less active during practiced performance. These changes were accompanied by changes in the opposite direction in sylvian-insular cortex bilaterally and left medial extrastriate cortex. In effect, brief practice made the cortical circuitry used for verbal response selection indistinguishable from simple word repetition. Introduction of a novel list of words reversed the learning-related effects. These results indicate that two distinct circuits can be used for verbal response selection and normal subjects can change the brain circuits used during task performance following less than 15 min of practice. One critical factor in determining the circuitry used appears to be the degree to which a task is learned or automatic.
The functional neuroanatomy of unipolar major depression was investigated using positron emission tomography to measure differences in regional cerebral blood flow (BF). A relatively homogeneous subject group was obtained using criteria for familial pure depressive disease (FPDD), which are based upon family history as well as upon symptoms and course. Because of the absence of certain knowledge about the pathophysiology of mood disorders and their underlying functional neuroanatomy, we used data obtained from the subtraction of composite images from one-half of depressed and control subjects to identify candidate regions of interest. The major cortical region defined in this manner was statistically tested on a second set of subjects. Using this strategy, we found increased BF in an area that extended from the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex onto the medial prefrontal cortical surface. Based upon the connectivity between these portions of the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala and evidence that the amygdala is involved in emotional modulation, activity was measured in the left amygdala and found to be significantly increased in the depressed group. A separate group of subjects with FPDD who were currently asymptomatic were also imaged to determine whether these findings represented abnormalities associated with the depressed state, or with a trait difference that might underlie the tendency to become depressed. Only the depressed group had increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex, suggesting that this abnormality represents a state marker of FPDD. Both the depressed and the remitted groups demonstrated increased activity in the left amygdala, though this difference achieved significance only in the depressed group. This suggests that the abnormality involving the left amygdala may represent a trait marker of FPDD, though further assessment in a larger sample size is necessary to establish this. These data along with other evidence suggest that a circuit involving the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and related parts of the striatum, pallidum, and medial thalamus is involved in the functional neuroanatomy of depression.
We studied regional cerebral blood flow using the H2150 method while normal subjects performed four similar tasks involving three-letter word beginnings (stems). Prior to each task, subjects studied a list of words. Local blood flow was then monitored during a 40-sec period while subjects (i) silently viewed word stems, (ii) completed stems to form the first words to come to mind, but the stems were not the beginnings of any study words (baseline), (iii) completed stems and half of them could form study words (priming), or (iv) tried to recall study words, and half of the stems could form these words (memory). There were three major findings. (I) The memory task engaged the right hippocampal region when the memory task was compared to either the baseline or the priming condition. The right hemispheric locus suggests that performance is driven by the visual characteristics of the words rather than by semantic or phonetic analysis. (ii) In the priming-minus-baseline comparison, there was reduction in blood flow in the right posterior cortex. (ug) Right prefrontal cortex was activated in the memory-minus-baseline condition.The results provide evidence for selective activation of the human hippocampal region in association with memory function. The results also lead to a suggestion about the neural basis of repetition priming: following presentation of a stimulus, less neural activity is required to process the same stimulus.Considerable information about the anatomical structures and connections involved in memory functions has come from histopathological studies of memory-impaired patients (1-3) and from a model of human amnesia in the monkey (4-7). This work is based on analysis of the effects of brain lesions and has converged on the view that the hippocampus, together with adjacent anatomically related cortex, is necessary for the formation of long-term memory. This brain system is involved particularly in the acquisition, temporary storage, and retrieval of explicit memory for facts and events (declarative memory) (1,8,9). Priming-that is, improved facility for detecting or identifying recently presented stimuli (10, 11)-does not depend on the hippocampal formation nor does skill-learning, conditioning, or other forms of nondeclarative (implicit) memory (1, 12 Scanning Methods. Brain activity was monitored as changes in local blood flow using the H2150 method. Subject preparation was as described (13), except that no arterial catheters were used. Because the change in local tissue radioactivity (referred to as PET counts) is linearly related to blood flow under the conditions of this study (14,15), relative changes in tissue activity are taken to indicate relative changes in blood flow. All subjects underwent six scans -10 min apart. Subtraction images between scans, used to isolate changes related to task differences, were calculated using pixel-by-pixel subtraction after linear normalization for changes in the global activity of the brain (arbitrarily set to 1000 PET counts). Anatomical normalization...
Context Patients with symptomatic atherosclerotic internal carotid artery occlusion (AICAO) and hemodynamic cerebral ischemia are at high risk for subsequent stroke when treated medically. Objective Test the hypothesis that extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass surgery, added to best medical therapy, reduces subsequent ipsilateral ischemic stroke in patients with recently symptomatic AICAO and hemodynamic cerebral ischemia. Design Parallel group, randomized, open-label, blinded-adjudication clinical treatment trial conducted from 2002–2010. Setting 49 clinical centers and 18 positron emission tomography (PET) centers in the United States and Canada. The majority were academic medical centers. Participants Arteriographically-confirmed AICAO causing hemispheric symptoms within 120 days and hemodynamic cerebral ischemia identified by ipsilateral increased oxygen extraction fraction measured by PET. 195 were randomized: 97 to surgery and 98 to no surgery. Follow-up for the primary endpoint until occurrence, 2 years, or end of trial was 99% complete. No participant withdrew because of adverse events. Interventions Anastomosis of superficial temporal artery branch to a middle cerebral artery cortical branch for the surgical group. Anti-thrombotic therapy and risk factor intervention were recommended for all. Main Outcome Measure For all participants who were assigned to surgery and received surgery, the combination of (1) all stroke and death from surgery through 30 days post surgery and (2) ipsilateral ischemic stroke within 2 years of randomization. For the nonsurgical group and participants assigned to surgery who did not receive surgery was the combination of (1) all stroke and death from randomization to randomization plus 30 days and (2) ipsilateral ischemic stroke within two years of randomization. Results The trial was terminated early for futility. Two-year rates for the primary endpoint were 21.0% (95% CI, 12.8% to 29.2%; 20 events) for the surgical group and 22.7% (95% CI, 13.9% to 31.6%; 20 events) for the nonsurgical group (p=0.78, z-test); difference = 1.7% (95% CI, −10.4% to 13.8%). Thirty-day rates for ipsilateral ischemic stroke were 14.3% (14/97) in the surgical group and 2.0% (2/98) in the nonsurgical group; difference = (95% CI, 4.9% to 19.9%) Conclusions Among participants with recently symptomatic AICAO and hemodynamic cerebral ischemia, EC-IC bypass surgery plus medical therapy compared to medical therapy alone did not reduce the risk of recurrent ipsilateral ischemic stroke at 2 years.
The presence or degree of haemodynamic impairment due to occlusive cerebrovascular disease is often inferred from measurements of cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and the cerebral rate for oxygen metabolism (CMRO2). However, the relationship of these variables, in particular CBV, to regional cerebral haemodynamics is not clearly established in humans with subacute or chronic disease. In the present study, we investigated the relationship of CBV to OEF, CBF and CMRO2, and to subsequent stroke risk in patients with unilateral carotid artery occlusion, in order to define better the associated haemodynamic and metabolic changes. We reviewed data from 81 patients with symptomatic carotid occlusion enrolled in a prospective study of haemodynamic factors and stroke risk. Measurements of CBV, CBF, OEF and CMRO2 were made on entry using PET. Patients were divided into groups by hemispheric ratios and absolute ipsilateral values of OEF and CBV, based on comparison with normal controls. Haemodynamic and metabolic values, risk factors and stroke risk were compared between groups. Based on hemispheric ratios, 45 patients had increased ipsilateral OEF; CBV was increased in 19 of these 45 patients. No differences in CBF, CMRO2 or clinical risk factors were found between these 19 patients and the remaining 26 patients with increased OEF and normal or reduced CBV. Thirteen ipsilateral strokes occurred during follow-up, and 10 of the 13 occurred in the 19 patients with increased OEF and CBV (log rank P < 0.0001). Thirty-two of the 68 patients with complete quantitative PET data had increased OEF by absolute ipsilateral values. CBV was increased in 20 of the 32 patients. No differences in CBF, CMRO2 or clinical risk factors were found between these 20 patients and the remaining 12 patients with increased OEF and normal CBV. Seven of the nine ipsilateral strokes that occurred in the 68 patients occurred in those 20 patients with increased OEF and increased CBV (log rank P = 0.003). The higher risk of ischaemic stroke in patients with increased OEF and CBV suggests that their degree of haemodynamic compromise is more severe than those with increased OEF and normal CBV. In patients with chronic carotid occlusion and increased OEF, increased CBV may indicate pronounced vasodilation due to exhausted autoregulatory vasodilation. The physiological explanation for the measurement of normal CBV in patients with increased OEF is less certain and may reflect preserved autoregulatory capacity.
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