Dataset Information

The man who feels two hearts: the different pathways of interoception.

ABSTRACT: Recent advances in neuroscience have provided new insights into the understanding of heart-brain interaction and communication. Cardiac information to the brain relies on two pathways, terminating in the insular cortex (IC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), along with the somatosensory cortex (S1-S2). Interoception relying on these neuroanatomical pathways has been shown to modulate social cognition. We report the case study of C.S., a patient with an 'external heart' (an extracorporeal left-univentricular cardiac assist device, LVAD). The patient was assessed with neural/behavioral measures of cardiac interoception complemented by neuropsychological and social cognition measures. The patient's performance on the interoception task (heartbeat detection) seemed to be guided by signals from the artificial LVAD, which provides a somatosensory beat rather than by his endogenous heart. Cortical activity (HEP, heartbeat-evoked potential) was found decreased in comparison with normal volunteers, particularly during interoceptive states. The patient accurately performed several cognitive tasks, except for interoception-related social cognition domains (empathy, theory of mind and decision making). This evidence suggests an imbalance in the patient's cardiac interoceptive pathways that enhances sensation driven by the artificial pump over that from the cardiac vagal-IC/ACC pathway. A patient with two hearts, one endogenous and one artificial, presents a unique opportunity to explore models of interoception and heart-brain interaction.

SUBMITTER: Couto B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4158360 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The man who feels two hearts: the different pathways of interoception.

Couto Blas B Salles Alejo A Sedeño Lucas L Peradejordi Margarita M Barttfeld Pablo P Canales-Johnson Andrés A Dos Santos Yamil Vidal YV Huepe David D Bekinschtein Tristán T Sigman Mariano M Favaloro Roberto R Manes Facundo F Ibanez Agustin A

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 20130724 9

Recent advances in neuroscience have provided new insights into the understanding of heart-brain interaction and communication. Cardiac information to the brain relies on two pathways, terminating in the insular cortex (IC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), along with the somatosensory cortex (S1-S2). Interoception relying on these neuroanatomical pathways has been shown to modulate social cognition. We report the case study of C.S., a patient with an 'external heart' (an extracorporeal left- ...[more]

PMID: 23887813

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Project description:BackgroundEndocrine disrupting chemicals are widely distributed in the environment and derive from many different human activities or can also be natural products synthesized by plants or microorganisms. The phytoestrogen, genistein (4', 5, 7-trihydroxy-isoflavone), is a naturally occurring compound found in soy products. Genistein has been the subject of numerous studies because of its known estrogenic activity.Methodology/principal findingsWe report that genistein exposure of zebrafish embryos induces apoptosis, mainly in the hindbrain and the anterior spinal cord. Timing experiments demonstrate that apoptosis is induced during a precise developmental window. Since adding ICI 182,780, an ER antagonist, does not rescue the genistein-induced apoptosis and since there is no synergistic effect between genistein and estradiol, we conclude that this apoptotic effect elicited by genistein is estrogen-receptors independent. However, we show in vitro, that genistein binds and activates the three zebrafish estrogen receptors ERalpha, ERbeta-A and ERbeta-B. Furthermore using transgenic ERE-Luciferase fish we show that genistein is able to activate the estrogen pathway in vivo during larval stages. Finally we show that genistein is able to induce ectopic expression of the aromatase-B gene in an ER-dependent manner in the anterior brain in pattern highly similar to the one resulting from estrogen treatment at low concentration.Conclusion/significanceTAKEN TOGETHER THESE RESULTS INDICATE THAT GENISTEIN ACTS THROUGH AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT PATHWAYS IN ZEBRAFISH EMBRYOS: (i) it induces apoptosis in an ER-independent manner and (ii) it regulates aromatase-B expression in the brain in an ER-dependent manner. Our results thus highlight the multiplicity of possible actions of phytoestrogens, such as genistein. This suggests that the use of standardized endpoints to study the effect of a given compound, even when this compound has well known targets, may carry the risk of overlooking interesting effects of this compound.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Species of the genus Halomonas are salt-tolerant organisms that have a versatile metabolism and can degrade a variety of xenobiotic compounds, utilizing them as their sole carbon source. In this study, we examined the genome of a Halomonas isolate from a hydrocarbon-contaminated site to search for chemosensory genes that might be responsible for the observed chemotactic behavior of this organism as well as for other responses to environmental cues. RESULTS:Using genome-wide comparative tools, our isolate was identified as a strain of Halomonas titanicae (strain KHS3), together with two other Halomonas strains with available genomes that had not been previously identified at a species level. The search for the main components of chemosensory pathways resulted in the identification of two clusters of chemosensory genes and a total of twenty-five chemoreceptor genes. One of the gene clusters is very similar to the che cluster from Escherichia coli and, presumably, it is responsible for the chemotactic behavior towards a variety of compounds. This gene cluster is present in 47 out of 56 analyzed Halomonas strains with available genomes. A second che-like cluster includes a gene coding for a diguanylate cyclase with a phosphotransfer and two receiver domains, as well as a gene coding for a chemoreceptor with a longer cytoplasmic domain than the other twenty-four. This seemingly independent pathway resembles the wsp pathway from Pseudomonas aeruginosa although it also presents several differences in gene order and domain composition. This second chemosensory gene cluster is only present in a sub-group within the genus Halomonas. Moreover, remarkably similar gene clusters are also found in some orders of Proteobacteria phylogenetically more distant from the Oceanospirillales, suggesting the occurrence of lateral transfer events. CONCLUSIONS:Chemosensory pathways were investigated within the genus Halomonas. A canonical chemotaxis pathway, controlled by a variable number of chemoreceptors, is widespread among Halomonas species. A second chemosensory pathway of unique organization that involves some type of c-di-GMP signaling was found to be present only in one branch of the genus, as well as in other proteobacterial lineages.

Dataset Information

The man who feels two hearts: the different pathways of interoception.

Publications

The man who feels two hearts: the different pathways of interoception.

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