LAIA@UIB coorganitza la conferència "Cortical dynamics during acute respiratory constraints: from insular detection to frontal cortex compensation" del Dr. Jose L. Herrero. Des del punt de la IA aquesta conferència és interessant per conèixer el conjunt de dades en que treballen en aquesta àmbit.

• Ponent: Dr. Jose L. Herrero. PhD, Department of Bioelectronic Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research; Manhasset, New York, USA
• Data: 8 d'abril de 2025
• Hora: 12h
• Lloc: sala #006, IUNICS, UIB.

Cortical dynamics during acute respiratory constraints: from insular detection to frontal cortex compensation.
Despite recent advances in animal models, the neural basis of human interoception remains unclear. We adapted a recently developed respiratory sensitivity task to precisely quantify the way the cortex detects constrains in the airways similar to those experienced by people with cardiopulmonary disease, asthma, or high anxiety. In this task, the airways are partially obstructed during the inspiratory cycle with a resistance (inspiratory loading). Participants: Eleven epilepsy patients implanted with intracranial electrodes (iEEG) in cortical and subcortical areas completed this task, detecting loads of different magnitudes (subthreshold vs. suprathreshold) while breathing through a mouthpiece. Results: Compared to controls (non-obstructed), loaded inhalations showed a decrease in airflow and an increase in mouth-pressure, as expected. At the neural level, loaded inhalations showed increases in high frequency activity (HFA, 70-150hz) that were transient in the anterior insular (AIC) but sustained in the frontal (orbitofrontal, rostro-medial, anterior cingulate) cortices. This effect was proportional to the load magnitude, with larger loads eliciting higher HFA responses compared to smaller loads. At the behavioral level, loads that were consciously perceived by the subjects elicited higher HFA than those that were not (detected vs. missed). In addition, granger causality analyses revealed that the AIC led the activity in the OFC and the OFC led the activity in the rostro-medial Frontal cortex. Conclusion: These results reveal the respiratory-motor compensatory strategies that are necessary at the cortical level to not only detect a constraint (transient insular responses) but to react to it (frontal sustained responses) to meet ventilatory demands (e.g., restore homeostasis). This is the first intracranial report of respiratory challenges in humans. It offers an insight into the neural mechanisms of breathing interoception to better understand the abnormal neural processing or respiratory sensations in those living with persistent breathlessness (i.e., dyspnea, COPD, chronic anxiety).

Dr. Jose L. Herrero, is a graduate of the cognitive science program at the University of Sunderland and the doctorate program at the Institute of Neuroscience and pharmacology in Newcastle (UK). He completed his postdoctoral training in macaque electrophysiology at Columbia University (NYC) and joined the Feinstein Institutes in April 2015. Dr Herrero is currently an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience and Psychology at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and at the Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine in New York (USA). His current research focuses on the topic of interoception, the cortical control of breathing and related respiratory disorders including dyspnea (breathlessness). His work at the Human Brain Mapping Laboratory uses intracranial electrodes (iEEG) in epilepsy patients with the aim of investigating the brain-lung axis: how cortical (descending) signals abnormally suppress/intensify ascending respiratory signals leading to their abnormal processing as reported in patients with persistent breathlessness and chronic anxiety. Dr Herrero is also actively involved in research efforts to induce neuroplasticity via invasive and non-invasive methods including direct electro-cortical stimulation, phrenic nerve stimulation, breathing through air-gas mixtures, and breath-work.