Resting-state Functional Connectivity During Controlled Respiratory Cycles Using Functional Magnetic Resonance
Chan-A Park1, Yeong-Bae Lee2,3, Chang-Ki Kang4
1Biomedical Engineering Research Center, Gachon University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
|June 16, 2023
Summary
Controlled mouth breathing significantly alters resting brain function, increasing functional connectivity compared to nasal breathing. The brain struggles to rest during mouth breathing, impacting neural networks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Respiratory Physiology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Mouth breathing is common and can affect physiological processes.
- Resting-state functional connectivity is crucial for brain function.
- The impact of controlled mouth breathing on brain activity is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of controlled mouth breathing on resting-state brain functional connectivity.
- To compare brain activity during mouth breathing versus nasal breathing using fMRI.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to monitor brain activity.
- Eleven subjects performed controlled 6-second respiratory cycles of nose and mouth breathing.
- Voxel-wise and region-of-interest (ROI)-to-ROI analyses were conducted.
Main Results:
- Mouth breathing showed significantly more functional connectivity pairs (14 seeds, 14 pairs) than nasal breathing (7 seeds, 4 pairs) in the Mouth>Nose contrast (FDR P<0.05).
- Nose breathing exhibited fewer connections compared to mouth breathing.
Conclusions:
- Controlled mouth breathing induces significant alterations in resting-state functional connectivity.
- The brain exhibits reduced resting state during mouth breathing compared to nasal breathing.
- Mouth breathing impacts resting brain function differently than nasal breathing.
