This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2015-65722-R to Dr. Lara-Pezzi and SAF2014-59594-R to Dr. Serratosa), Autonomous Community of Madrid (2010-BMD2321, FIBROTEAM Consortium), European Union's FP7 (CardioNeT-ITN-289600, CardioNext-ITN-608027), the Spanish Carlos III Institute of Health (CPII14/00027 to Dr. Lara-Pezzi, PI13/00865 to Dr. Sanchez and RD12/0042/066 to Drs. Garcia-Pavia and Lara-Pezzi), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders And Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (P01NS097197 to Dr. Sanchez). This work was also supported by the Plan Estatal de I+D+I 2013-2016-European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) "A way of making Europe," Spain. The Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the Pro-CNIC Foundation, and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (MINECO award SEV-2015-0505). ; Sí
Normal aging causes disruptions in the brain that can lead to cognitive decline. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have found significant age-related alterations in functional connectivity across various networks. Nevertheless, most of the studies have focused mainly on static functional connectivity. Studying the dynamics of resting-state brain activity across the whole-brain functional network can provide a better characterization of age-related changes. Here, we employed two data-driven whole-brain approaches based on the phase synchronization of blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals to analyze resting-state fMRI data from 620 subjects divided into two groups (middle-age group (n = 310); age range, 50–64 years versus older group (n = 310); age range, 65–91 years). Applying the intrinsic-ignition framework to assess the effect of spontaneous local activation events on local–global integration, we found that the older group showed higher intrinsic ignition across the whole-brain functional network, but lower metastability. Using Leading Eigenvector Dynamics Analysis, we found that the older group showed reduced ability to access a metastable substate that closely overlaps with the so-called rich club. These findings suggest that functional whole-brain dynamics are altered in aging, probably due to a deficiency in a metastable substate that is key for efficient global communication in the brain. ; A.E. was supported by the Catalan project Imagenoma de L'Envelliment (Aging Imageomics Study). G.D. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain (grant agreement number PSI2016- 75688-P, MINECO/AEI/FEDER-EU); European Union's Horizon 2020 FET Flagship Human Brain Project (grant agreement number 785907, HBP SGA2); the Catalan Research Support, Spain (grant agreement number 2017 SGR 1545) and La Marató TV3 2017 (grant agreement 201725.33).
Gut: first published. ; [Background]: Inhibitory control (IC) is critical to keep long-term goals in everyday life. Bidirectional relationships between IC deficits and obesity are behind unhealthy eating and physical exercise habits. ; [Methods]: We studied gut microbiome composition and functionality, and plasma and faecal metabolomics in association with cognitive tests evaluating inhibitory control (Stroop test) and brain structure in a discovery (n=156), both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and in an independent replication cohort (n=970). Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in mice evaluated the impact on reversal learning and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) transcriptomics. ; [Results]: An interplay among IC, brain structure (in humans) and mPFC transcriptomics (in mice), plasma/faecal metabolomics and the gut metagenome was found. Obesity-dependent alterations in one-carbon metabolism, tryptophan and histidine pathways were associated with IC in the two independent cohorts. Bacterial functions linked to one-carbon metabolism (thyX,dut, exodeoxyribonuclease V), and the anterior cingulate cortex volume were associated with IC, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. FMT from individuals with obesity led to alterations in mice reversal learning. In an independent FMT experiment, human donor's bacterial functions related to IC deficits were associated with mPFC expression of one-carbon metabolism-related genes of recipient's mice. ; [Conclusion]: These results highlight the importance of targeting obesity-related impulsive behaviour through the induction of gut microbiota shifts. ; This work was partially supported by research grants FIS (PI15/01934 and PI18/01022) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III from Spain, SAF2015-65878-R and #AEI-SAF2017-84060-R-FEDER from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Prometeo/2018/A/133 from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; and also by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds, European Commission (FP7, NeuroPain #2013-602891), the Catalan Government (AGAUR, #SGR2017-669, ICREA Academia Award 2015), the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RTA, #RD16/0017/0020), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-099200-B-I00), the Catalan Goverment (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants [2017SGR696] and Department of Health [STL002/16/00250]; the European Regional Development Fund (project No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-02-0014) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT); and the Project ThinkGut (EFA345/19) 65% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg V-A SpainFrance-Andorra programme (POCTEFA 2014-2020). MA-R is funded by a predoctoral Río Hortega contract from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII, CM19/00190), co-funded by the European Social Fund "Investing in your future". OC-R is funded by the Miguel Servet Program from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII CP20/00165), co-funded by the Europeran Social Fund "Investing in your future". JM-P is funded by the Miguel Servet Program from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII CP18/00009), co-funded by the European Social Fund "Investing in your future". JS is funded by a predoctoral PERIS contract (SLT002/16/00250) from the Catalan Government. MJ is a professor under the "Serra Hunter" programme (Generalitat de Catalunya). ; Peer reviewed
Background Inhibitory control (IC) is critical to keep long-term goals in everyday life. Bidirectional relationships between IC deficits and obesity are behind unhealthy eating and physical exercise habits. Methods We studied gut microbiome composition and functionality, and plasma and faecal metabolomics in association with cognitive tests evaluating inhibitory control (Stroop test) and brain structure in a discovery (n=156), both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and in an independent replication cohort (n=970). Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in mice evaluated the impact on reversal learning and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) transcriptomics. Results An interplay among IC, brain structure (in humans) and mPFC transcriptomics (in mice), plasma/faecal metabolomics and the gut metagenome was found. Obesity-dependent alterations in one-carbon metabolism, tryptophan and histidine pathways were associated with IC in the two independent cohorts. Bacterial functions linked to one-carbon metabolism (thyX,dut, exodeoxyribonuclease V), and the anterior cingulate cortex volume were associated with IC, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. FMT from individuals with obesity led to alterations in mice reversal learning. In an independent FMT experiment, human donor's bacterial functions related to IC deficits were associated with mPFC expression of one-carbon metabolism-related genes of recipient's mice. Conclusion These results highlight the importance of targeting obesity-related impulsive behaviour through the induction of gut microbiota shifts. ; This work was partially supported by research grants FIS (PI15/01934 and PI18/01022) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III from Spain, SAF2015- 65878-R and #AEI-SAF2017-84060-R-FEDER from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Prometeo/2018/A/133 from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; and also by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds, European Commission (FP7, NeuroPain #2013-602891), the Catalan Government (AGAUR, #SGR2017-669, ICREA Academia Award ...
Background Inhibitory control (IC) is critical to keep long-term goals in everyday life. Bidirectional relationships between IC deficits and obesity are behind unhealthy eating and physical exercise habits. Methods We studied gut microbiome composition and functionality, and plasma and faecal metabolomics in association with cognitive tests evaluating inhibitory control (Stroop test) and brain structure in a discovery (n=156), both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and in an independent replication cohort (n=970). Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in mice evaluated the impact on reversal learning and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) transcriptomics. Results An interplay among IC, brain structure (in humans) and mPFC transcriptomics (in mice), plasma/faecal metabolomics and the gut metagenome was found. Obesity-dependent alterations in one-carbon metabolism, tryptophan and histidine pathways were associated with IC in the two independent cohorts. Bacterial functions linked to one-carbon metabolism (thyX,dut, exodeoxyribonuclease V), and the anterior cingulate cortex volume were associated with IC, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. FMT from individuals with obesity led to alterations in mice reversal learning. In an independent FMT experiment, human donor's bacterial functions related to IC deficits were associated with mPFC expression of one-carbon metabolism-related genes of recipient's mice. Conclusion These results highlight the importance of targeting obesity-related impulsive behaviour through the induction of gut microbiota shifts. ; This work was partially supported by research grants FIS (PI15/01934 and PI18/01022) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III from Spain, SAF2015- 65878-R and #AEI-SAF2017-84060-R-FEDER from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Prometeo/2018/A/133 from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; and also by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds, European Commission (FP7, NeuroPain #2013-602891), the Catalan Government (AGAUR, #SGR2017-669, ICREA Academia Award 2015), the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RTA, #RD16/0017/0020), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-099200-B-I00), the Catalan Goverment (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants [2017SGR696] and Department of Health [STL002/16/00250]; the European Regional Development Fund (project No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-02-0014) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT); and the Project ThinkGut (EFA345/19) 65% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg V-A SpainFrance-Andorra programme (POCTEFA 2014-2020). MA-R is funded by a predoctoral Río Hortega contract from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII, CM19/00190), co-funded by the European Social Fund "Investing in your future". OC-R is funded by the Miguel Servet Program from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII CP20/00165), co-funded by the Europeran Social Fund "Investing in your future". JM-P is funded by the Miguel Servet Program from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII CP18/00009), co-funded by the European Social Fund "Investing in your future". JS is funded by a predoctoral PERIS contract (SLT002/16/00250) from the Catalan Government. MJ is a professor under the "Serra Hunter" programme (Generalitat de Catalunya).