Electrogastrography for psychophysiological research: Practical considerations, analysis pipeline, and normative data...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Gastroenterology
• Psychophysiology

Background:

• Electrogastrography (EGG) is a noninvasive technique recording gastric electrical activity.
• While established in gastroenterology, EGG's application in psychophysiology for brain-viscera interactions lacks extensive practical guidelines and normative data.
• Existing literature on human EGG is scarce, particularly concerning standardized recording and analysis methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the physiological basis of EGG and brain-stomach interactions.
• To detail practical aspects of EGG recording and propose a semi-automated analysis pipeline.
• To establish normative EGG parameters in a large sample of healthy adults under fasting conditions.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on EGG physiology and brain-stomach pathways.
• Development and validation of a semi-automated MATLAB pipeline for EGG data analysis.
• Recording EGG in 117 healthy participants under moderate and prolonged fasting states.

Main Results:

• The proposed analysis pipeline identifies regular gastric rhythms.
• Normative EGG parameters were established, suggesting electrode placement should extend lower than current clinical guidelines.
• Prolonged fasting led to increased gastric rhythm irregularity, with marginal sex-based differences in peak frequency.

Conclusions:

• This study provides a valuable resource for EGG application in psychophysiology and cognitive neuroscience.
• The findings offer practical recommendations for EGG recording and analysis, including extended electrode coverage.
• EGG parameters are sensitive to fasting duration, highlighting its potential for studying brain-gut axis dynamics.