The Influence of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback on Cardiac Regulation and Functional Brain Connectivity

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Stefanie Köhler¹  Lisa Brotte²  Andy Schumann³  Feliberto de la Cruz³  Karl-Jürgen Bär³ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany;Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, Essen University Hospital, Essen, Germany;Lab for Autonomic Neuroscience, Imaging and Cognition (LANIC), Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany;

关键词: autonomic nervous system;    resting state functional connectivity;    prefrontal cortex;    insula;    cingulate cortex;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnins.2021.691988

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHeart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback has a beneficial impact on perceived stress and emotion regulation. However, its impact on brain function is still unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of an 8-week HRV-biofeedback intervention on functional brain connectivity in healthy subjects.MethodsHRV biofeedback was carried out in five sessions per week, including four at home and one in our lab. A control group played jump‘n’run games instead of the training. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted before and after the intervention in both groups. To compute resting state functional connectivity (RSFC), we defined regions of interest in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and a total of 260 independent anatomical regions for network-based analysis. Changes of RSFC of the VMPFC to other brain regions were compared between groups. Temporal changes of HRV during the resting state recording were correlated to dynamic functional connectivity of the VMPFC.ResultsFirst, we corroborated the role of the VMPFC in cardiac autonomic regulation. We found that temporal changes of HRV were correlated to dynamic changes of prefrontal connectivity, especially to the middle cingulate cortex, the left insula, supplementary motor area, dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal regions. The biofeedback group showed a drop in heart rate by 5.2 beats/min and an increased SDNN as a measure of HRV by 8.6 ms (18%) after the intervention. Functional connectivity of the VMPFC increased mainly to the insula, the amygdala, the middle cingulate cortex, and lateral prefrontal regions after biofeedback intervention when compared to changes in the control group. Network-based statistic showed that biofeedback had an influence on a broad functional network of brain regions.ConclusionOur results show that increased heart rate variability induced by HRV-biofeedback is accompanied by changes in functional brain connectivity during resting state.

【 授权许可】

Unknown