The Role of Insula-Associated Brain Network in Touch

Abstract

The insula is believed to be associated with touch-evoked effects. In this work, functional MRI was applied to investigate the network model of insula function when 20 normal subjects received tactile stimulation over segregated areas. Data analysis was performed with SPM8 and Conn toolbox. Activations in the contralateral posterior insula were consistently revealed for all stimulation areas, with the overlap located in area Ig2. The area Ig2 was then used as the seed to estimate the insula-associated network. The right insula, left superior parietal lobule, left superior temporal gyrus, and left inferior parietal cortex showed significant functional connectivity with the seed region for all stimulation conditions. Connectivity maps of most stimulation conditions were mainly distributed in the bilateral insula, inferior parietal cortex, and secondary somatosensory cortex. Post hoc ROI-to-ROI analysis and graph theoretical analysis showed that there were higher correlations between the left insula and the right insula, left inferior parietal cortex and right OP1 for all networks and that the global efficiency was more sensitive than the local efficiency to detect differences between notes in a network. These results suggest that the posterior insula serves as a hub to functionally connect other regions in the detected network and may integrate information from these regions.

Temporal dynamics of brain activation during 40 minutes of pleasant touch

“…Except for caudate and putamen, all of these regions have been previously found to be activated during pleasant touch (Ackerley et al, 2012;Francis et al, 1999;Gordon et al, 2013;Lamm, Silani, & Singer, 2015b;Morrison, Bjornsdotter, et al, 2011;Olausson et al, 2002;Perini, Olausson, & Morrison, 2015;Rolls et al, 2013;Wei & Bao, 2013). We suggest that shorter intervals of stimulus presentation prevented the detection of striatal activation in previous studies.…”

A role of the autonomic nervous system in cerebro-cardiac disorders

“…Задняя часть инсулы имеет висцеротопическую организацию (показано на примере барорецепторной информации) и непосредственно связана со вспомогательной моторной, первичной и вторичной соматосенсорной, первичной и вторичной слуховой корой, нижней теменной долькой, а также ретроинсулярной областью. Островок реципрокно связан с височной корой и поясной извилиной [12,18,20,21,23,24]. Имеются его связи с таламусом и амигдалой, лимбической системой [20,23,24].…”

“…Островок реципрокно связан с височной корой и поясной извилиной [12,18,20,21,23,24]. Имеются его связи с таламусом и амигдалой, лимбической системой [20,23,24]. Эфферентные проекции островка заканчиваются в чечевицеобразном и хвостовом ядрах, скорлупе.…”

“…Существуют прямые связи островковой доли с РФ и вегетативными ядрами, включая ядра шва, вентральной покрышечной области и околоводопроводного серого вещества, ядро одиночного пути. В экспериментальных исследованиях показано [20,23,24], что электрическая стимуляция барабанной струны приводит к активации передней части островка, в то же время импульсы от языкоглоточного и блуждающего нервов поступают в заднюю часть островка.…”

Adaptation of cortical activity to sustained pressure stimulation on the fingertip

“…Second, we used the functional connectivity analysis with blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals from multiple cortical regions. The functional connectivity analysis method used in this study has been widely used to examine inter-regional interactions in task- or resting-states [ 19 ] as well as to characterize cortical networks in static mechanical stimulation [ 20 ]. Although there is no existing study addressing how functional connectivity on the cortex changes during tactile adaptation, we ventured a hypothesis that functional connectivity over certain cortical regions associated with tactile perception would also adapt to sustained pressure stimulation.…”