1
|
Killanin AD, Ward TW, Embury CM, Calhoun VD, Wang Y, Stephen JM, Picci G, Heinrichs‐Graham E, Wilson TW. Effects of endogenous testosterone on oscillatory activity during verbal working memory in youth. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26774. [PMID: 38949599 PMCID: PMC11215982 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Testosterone levels sharply rise during the transition from childhood to adolescence and these changes are known to be associated with changes in human brain structure. During this same developmental window, there are also robust changes in the neural oscillatory dynamics serving verbal working memory processing. Surprisingly, whereas many studies have investigated the effects of chronological age on the neural oscillations supporting verbal working memory, none have probed the impact of endogenous testosterone levels during this developmental period. Using a sample of 89 youth aged 6-14 years-old, we collected salivary testosterone samples and recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task. Significant oscillatory responses were identified and imaged using a beamforming approach and the resulting maps were subjected to whole-brain ANCOVAs examining the effects of testosterone and sex, controlling for age, during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance. Our primary results indicated robust testosterone-related effects in theta (4-7 Hz) and alpha (8-14 Hz) oscillatory activity, controlling for age. During encoding, females exhibited weaker theta oscillations than males in right cerebellar cortices and stronger alpha oscillations in left temporal cortices. During maintenance, youth with greater testosterone exhibited weaker alpha oscillations in right parahippocampal and cerebellar cortices, as well as regions across the left-lateralized language network. These results extend the existing literature on the development of verbal working memory processing by showing region and sex-specific effects of testosterone, and are the first results to link endogenous testosterone levels to the neural oscillatory activity serving verbal working memory, above and beyond the effects of chronological age.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abraham D. Killanin
- Institute for Human NeuroscienceBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Center for Pediatric Brain HealthBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- College of MedicineUniversity of Nebraska Medical CenterOmahaNebraskaUSA
| | - Thomas W. Ward
- Institute for Human NeuroscienceBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Center for Pediatric Brain HealthBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Department of Pharmacology and NeuroscienceCreighton UniversityOmahaNebraskaUSA
| | - Christine M. Embury
- Institute for Human NeuroscienceBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Center for Pediatric Brain HealthBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
| | - Vince D. Calhoun
- Tri‐Institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS)Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA
| | - Yu‐Ping Wang
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringTulane UniversityNew OrleansLouisianaUSA
| | | | - Giorgia Picci
- Institute for Human NeuroscienceBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Center for Pediatric Brain HealthBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Department of Pharmacology and NeuroscienceCreighton UniversityOmahaNebraskaUSA
| | - Elizabeth Heinrichs‐Graham
- Institute for Human NeuroscienceBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Center for Pediatric Brain HealthBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Department of Pharmacology and NeuroscienceCreighton UniversityOmahaNebraskaUSA
| | - Tony W. Wilson
- Institute for Human NeuroscienceBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- Center for Pediatric Brain HealthBoys Town National Research HospitalNebraskaUSA
- College of MedicineUniversity of Nebraska Medical CenterOmahaNebraskaUSA
- Department of Pharmacology and NeuroscienceCreighton UniversityOmahaNebraskaUSA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Killanin AD, Ward TW, Embury CM, Calhoun VD, Wang YP, Stephen JM, Picci G, Heinrichs-Graham E, Wilson TW. Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 66:101354. [PMID: 38330526 PMCID: PMC10864839 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 01/21/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Numerous investigations have characterized the oscillatory dynamics serving working memory in adults, but few have probed its relationship with chronological age in developing youth. We recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task in 82 youth participants aged 6-14 years old. Significant oscillatory responses were identified and imaged using a beamforming approach and the resulting whole-brain maps were probed for developmental effects during the encoding and maintenance phases. Our results indicated robust oscillatory responses in the theta (4-7 Hz) and alpha (8-14 Hz) range, with older participants exhibiting stronger alpha oscillations in left-hemispheric language regions. Older participants also had greater occipital theta power during encoding. Interestingly, there were sex-by-age interaction effects in cerebellar cortices during encoding and in the right superior temporal region during maintenance. These results extend the existing literature on working memory development by showing strong associations between age and oscillatory dynamics across a distributed network. To our knowledge, these findings are the first to link chronological age to alpha and theta oscillatory responses serving working memory encoding and maintenance, both across and between male and female youth; they reveal robust developmental effects in crucial brain regions serving higher order functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abraham D Killanin
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Thomas W Ward
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Christine M Embury
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Vince D Calhoun
- Tri-Institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Yu-Ping Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | | | - Giorgia Picci
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Tony W Wilson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Santo-Angles A, Temudo A, Babushkin V, Sreenivasan KK. Effective connectivity of working memory performance: a DCM study of MEG data. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1339728. [PMID: 38501039 PMCID: PMC10944968 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1339728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual working memory (WM) engages several nodes of a large-scale network that includes frontal, parietal, and visual regions; however, little is understood about how these regions interact to support WM behavior. In particular, it is unclear whether network dynamics during WM maintenance primarily represent feedforward or feedback connections. This question has important implications for current debates about the relative roles of frontoparietal and visual regions in WM maintenance. In the current study, we investigated the network activity supporting WM using MEG data acquired while healthy subjects performed a multi-item delayed estimation WM task. We used computational modeling of behavior to discriminate correct responses (high accuracy trials) from two different types of incorrect responses (low accuracy and swap trials), and dynamic causal modeling of MEG data to measure effective connectivity. We observed behaviorally dependent changes in effective connectivity in a brain network comprising frontoparietal and early visual areas. In comparison with high accuracy trials, frontoparietal and frontooccipital networks showed disrupted signals depending on type of behavioral error. Low accuracy trials showed disrupted feedback signals during early portions of WM maintenance and disrupted feedforward signals during later portions of maintenance delay, while swap errors showed disrupted feedback signals during the whole delay period. These results support a distributed model of WM that emphasizes the role of visual regions in WM storage and where changes in large scale network configurations can have important consequences for memory-guided behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aniol Santo-Angles
- Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Center for Brain and Health, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Ainsley Temudo
- Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Vahan Babushkin
- Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Kartik K. Sreenivasan
- Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Center for Brain and Health, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Embury CM, Lord GH, Drincic AT, Desouza CV, Wilson TW. Glycemic control level alters working memory neural dynamics in adults with type 2 diabetes. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:8333-8341. [PMID: 37005060 PMCID: PMC10321117 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 03/12/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Poor glycemic control in type 2 diabetes has been associated with accentuated age-related cognitive decline, although the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood. The current study sought to identify the impact of glycemic control on the neural dynamics serving working memory in adults with type 2 diabetes. Participants (n = 34, ages = 55-73) performed a working memory task while undergoing MEG. Significant neural responses were examined relative to poorer (A1c > 7.0%) or tighter glycemic control (A1c < 7.0%). Those with poorer glycemic control showed diminished responses within left temporal and prefrontal regions during encoding and showed diminished responses within right occipital cortex during maintenance but showed an enhanced activity in the left temporal, occipital, and cerebellar regions during maintenance. Notably, left temporal activity in encoding and left lateral occipital activity in maintenance significantly predicted performance on the task such that diminished temporal activity led to longer reaction times, which were driven by the poorer glycemic control group. Greater lateral occipital activity during maintenance was associated with both lower accuracy and longer reaction times across all participants. These findings suggest that glycemic control has a robust impact on the neural dynamics serving working memory, with distinct effects by subprocess (e.g. encoding vs. maintenance) and direct effects on behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christine M Embury
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE 68010, United States
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE 68182, United States
| | - Grace H Lord
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, UNMC, Omaha, NE 68198, United States
| | - Andjela T Drincic
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, UNMC, Omaha, NE 68198, United States
| | - Cyrus V Desouza
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, UNMC, Omaha, NE 68198, United States
| | - Tony W Wilson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE 68010, United States
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE 68182, United States
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Weyrich L, Arif Y, Schantell M, Johnson HJ, Willett MP, Okelberry HJ, Wilson TW. Altered functional connectivity and oscillatory dynamics in polysubstance and cannabis only users during visuospatial processing. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2023; 240:769-783. [PMID: 36752815 PMCID: PMC10545949 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-023-06318-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES Cannabis use is often associated with the use of other psychoactive substances, which is subsequently linked to an increased risk for addiction. While there is a growing body of neuroimaging literature investigating the cognitive effect of long-term cannabis use, very little is known about the potential additive effects of cannabis polysubstance use. METHODS Fifty-six adults composed of 18 polysubstance users (i.e., cannabis plus at least one other illicit substance), 19 cannabis-only users, and 19 nonusers completed a visuospatial attention task while undergoing magnetoencephalography. A data-driven approach was used to identify oscillatory neural responses, which were imaged using a beamforming approach. The resulting cortical regions were probed for group differences and used as seeds for whole-brain connectivity analysis. RESULTS Participants exhibited robust theta, alpha, beta, and gamma responses during visuospatial processing. Statistical analyses indicated that the cannabis-only group had weaker occipital theta relative to the nonusers, and that both polysubstance and cannabis-only users had reduced spontaneous gamma in the occipital cortices during the pre-stimulus baseline period relative to nonusers. Finally, functional connectivity analyses revealed that polysubstance users had sharply reduced beta connectivity between occipital and prefrontal, as well as occipital and left temporal cortices. CONCLUSIONS Cannabis use should be considered in a polysubstance context, as our correlational design suggests differences in functional connectivity among those who reported cannabis-only versus polysubstance use in occipital to prefrontal pathways critical to visuospatial processing and attention function. Future work should distinguish the effect of different polysubstance combinations and use more causal designs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Weyrich
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE, 68178, USA
| | - Yasra Arif
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA
| | - Mikki Schantell
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA
- College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 42nd and Emile Street, Omaha, NE, 68198, USA
| | - Hallie J Johnson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA
| | - Madelyn P Willett
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA
| | - Hannah J Okelberry
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA
| | - Tony W Wilson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14090 Mother Teresa Ln, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA.
- Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE, 68178, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Penhale SH, Picci G, Ott LR, Taylor BK, Frenzel MR, Eastman JA, Wang YP, Calhoun VD, Stephen JM, Wilson TW. Impacts of adrenarcheal DHEA levels on spontaneous cortical activity during development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 57:101153. [PMID: 36174268 PMCID: PMC9519481 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) production is closely associated with the first pubertal hormonal event, adrenarche. Few studies have documented the relationships between DHEA and functional brain development, with even fewer examining the associations between DHEA and spontaneous cortical activity during the resting-state. Thus, whether DHEA levels are associated with the known developmental shifts in the brain's idling cortical rhythms remains poorly understood. Herein, we examined spontaneous cortical activity in 71 typically-developing youth (9-16 years; 32 male) using magnetoencephalography (MEG). MEG data were source imaged and the power within five canonical frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma) was computed to identify spatially- and spectrally-specific effects of salivary DHEA and DHEA-by-sex interactions using vertex-wise ANCOVAs. Our results indicated robust increases in power with increasing DHEA within parieto-occipital cortices in all frequency bands except alpha, which decreased with increasing DHEA. In the delta band, DHEA and sex interacted within frontal and temporal cortices such that with increasing DHEA, males exhibited increasing power while females showed decreasing power. These data suggest that spontaneous cortical activity changes with endogenous DHEA levels during the transition from childhood to adolescence, particularly in sensory and attentional processing regions. Sexually-divergent trajectories were only observed in later-developing frontal cortical areas.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Samantha H Penhale
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Giorgia Picci
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Lauren R Ott
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Brittany K Taylor
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Michaela R Frenzel
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Jacob A Eastman
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Yu-Ping Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Vince D Calhoun
- Tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | - Tony W Wilson
- Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA.
| |
Collapse
|