Reduced Responsiveness is an Essential Feature of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: a FMRI Study

Overview

Journal BMC Neurol

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Neurology

Date 2006 Mar 1

PMID 16504053

Citations 34

Authors

Masaaki Tanaka

Norihiro Sadato

Tomohisa Okada

Kei Mizuno

Tetsuya Sasabe

Hiroki C Tanabe

Daisuke N Saito

Hirotaka Onoe

Hirohiko Kuratsune

Yasuyoshi Watanabe

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Although the neural mechanism of chronic fatigue syndrome has been investigated by a number of researchers, it remains poorly understood.

Methods: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we studied brain responsiveness in 6 male chronic fatigue syndrome patients and in 7 age-matched male healthy volunteers. Responsiveness of auditory cortices to transient, short-lived, noise reduction was measured while subjects performed a fatigue-inducing continual visual search task.

Results: Responsiveness of the task-dependent brain regions was decreased after the fatigue-inducing task in the normal and chronic fatigue syndrome subjects and the decrement of the responsiveness was equivalent between the 2 groups. In contrast, during the fatigue-inducing period, although responsiveness of auditory cortices remained constant in the normal subjects, it was attenuated in the chronic fatigue syndrome patients. In addition, the rate of this attenuation was positively correlated with the subjective sensation of fatigue as measured using a fatigue visual analogue scale, immediately before the magnetic resonance imaging session.

Conclusion: Chronic fatigue syndrome may be characterised by attenuation of the responsiveness to stimuli not directly related to the fatigue-inducing task.

Citing Articles

Absence of BOLD adaptation in chronic fatigue syndrome revealed by task functional MRI.

Schonberg L, Mohamed A, Yu Q, Kwiatek R, Del Fante P, Calhoun V J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2024; 45(1):115-124.

PMID: 39113421 PMC: 11840696. DOI: 10.1177/0271678X241270528.

Subcortical and default mode network connectivity is impaired in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

Inderyas M, Thapaliya K, Marshall-Gradisnik S, Barth M, Barnden L Front Neurosci. 2024; 17:1318094.

PMID: 38347875 PMC: 10859529. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1318094.

Elevated brain temperature under severe heat exposure impairs cortical motor activity and executive function.

Tan X, Stephenson M, Alhadad S, Loh K, Soong T, Lee J J Sport Health Sci. 2023; 13(2):233-244.

PMID: 37678507 PMC: 10980903. DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2023.09.001.

ME/CFS and Long COVID share similar symptoms and biological abnormalities: road map to the literature.

Komaroff A, Lipkin W Front Med (Lausanne). 2023; 10:1187163.

PMID: 37342500 PMC: 10278546. DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1187163.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Comorbidities: Linked by Vascular Pathomechanisms and Vasoactive Mediators?.

Wirth K, Lohn M Medicina (Kaunas). 2023; 59(5).

PMID: 37241210 PMC: 10224216. DOI: 10.3390/medicina59050978.

References

LANGE G, Steffener J, Cook D, Bly B, Christodoulou C, Liu W . Objective evidence of cognitive complaints in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: a BOLD fMRI study of verbal working memory. Neuroimage. 2005; 26(2):513-24. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.02.011. View

Siessmeier T, Nix W, Hardt J, Schreckenberger M, Egle U, Bartenstein P . Observer independent analysis of cerebral glucose metabolism in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2003; 74(7):922-8. PMC: 1738575. DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.74.7.922. View

Kuratsune H, Yamaguti K, Lindh G, Evengard B, Hagberg G, Matsumura K . Brain regions involved in fatigue sensation: reduced acetylcarnitine uptake into the brain. Neuroimage. 2002; 17(3):1256-65. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2002.1260. View

Heeger D, Huk A, Geisler W, Albrecht D . Spikes versus BOLD: what does neuroimaging tell us about neuronal activity?. Nat Neurosci. 2000; 3(7):631-3. DOI: 10.1038/76572. View

Tanabe H, Honda M, Sadato N . Functionally segregated neural substrates for arbitrary audiovisual paired-association learning. J Neurosci. 2005; 25(27):6409-18. PMC: 6725270. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0636-05.2005. View

Brasil-Neto J, Pascual-Leone A, Valls-Sole J, Cammarota A, Cohen L, Hallett M . Postexercise depression of motor evoked potentials: a measure of central nervous system fatigue. Exp Brain Res. 1993; 93(1):181-4. DOI: 10.1007/BF00227794. View

Poellinger A, Thomas R, Lio P, Lee A, Makris N, Rosen B . Activation and habituation in olfaction--an fMRI study. Neuroimage. 2001; 13(4):547-60. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2000.0713. View

de Lange F, Kalkman J, Bleijenberg G, Hagoort P, van der Werf S, van der Meer J . Neural correlates of the chronic fatigue syndrome--an fMRI study. Brain. 2004; 127(Pt 9):1948-57. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awh225. View

Natelson B, Cohen J, Brassloff I, Lee H . A controlled study of brain magnetic resonance imaging in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome. J Neurol Sci. 1993; 120(2):213-7. DOI: 10.1016/0022-510x(93)90276-5. View

10.

Buchwald D, Cheney P, Peterson D, Henry B, Wormsley S, Geiger A . A chronic illness characterized by fatigue, neurologic and immunologic disorders, and active human herpesvirus type 6 infection. Ann Intern Med. 1992; 116(2):103-13. DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-116-2-103. View

11.

Fukuda K, Straus S, Hickie I, Sharpe M, Dobbins J, Komaroff A . The chronic fatigue syndrome: a comprehensive approach to its definition and study. International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group. Ann Intern Med. 1994; 121(12):953-9. DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-121-12-199412150-00009. View

12.

Okada T, Tanaka M, Kuratsune H, Watanabe Y, Sadato N . Mechanisms underlying fatigue: a voxel-based morphometric study of chronic fatigue syndrome. BMC Neurol. 2004; 4(1):14. PMC: 524491. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2377-4-14. View

13.

Christodoulou C, DeLuca J, Ricker J, Madigan N, Bly B, LANGE G . Functional magnetic resonance imaging of working memory impairment after traumatic brain injury. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2001; 71(2):161-8. PMC: 1737512. DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.71.2.161. View

14.

Buchwald D, Pearlman T, Umali J, Schmaling K, Katon W . Functional status in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, other fatiguing illnesses, and healthy individuals. Am J Med. 1996; 101(4):364-70. DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9343(96)00234-3. View

15.

Lee K, Hicks G . Validity and reliability of a scale to assess fatigue. Psychiatry Res. 1991; 36(3):291-8. DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(91)90027-m. View

16.

SCHWARTZ R, Komaroff A, Garada B, Gleit M, Doolittle T, Bates D . SPECT imaging of the brain: comparison of findings in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS dementia complex, and major unipolar depression. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1994; 162(4):943-51. DOI: 10.2214/ajr.162.4.8141022. View

17.

Stewart J . Autonomic nervous system dysfunction in adolescents with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by attenuated vagal baroreflex and potentiated sympathetic vasomotion. Pediatr Res. 2000; 48(2):218-26. DOI: 10.1203/00006450-200008000-00016. View

18.

Tirelli U, Chierichetti F, Tavio M, Simonelli C, Bianchin G, Zanco P . Brain positron emission tomography (PET) in chronic fatigue syndrome: preliminary data. Am J Med. 1998; 105(3A):54S-58S. DOI: 10.1016/s0002-9343(98)00179-x. View

19.

GOLDSTEIN Jr M, HALL 2nd J, Butterfield B . Single-unit activity in the primary auditory cortex of unanesthetized cats. J Acoust Soc Am. 1968; 43(3):444-55. DOI: 10.1121/1.1910851. View

20.

Liang L, Lu T, Wang X . Neural representations of sinusoidal amplitude and frequency modulations in the primary auditory cortex of awake primates. J Neurophysiol. 2002; 87(5):2237-61. DOI: 10.1152/jn.2002.87.5.2237. View