Journal article
Absence of BOLD adaptation in chronic fatigue syndrome revealed by task functional MRI
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Vol.45(1), pp.115-124
2025
PMCID: PMC11840696
PMID: 39113421
Appears in Thompson Institute Research Collection
Abstract
Neurological symptoms are central to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), yet its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms remain elusive. We examined a neglected aspect of task-based functional MRI, focusing on how blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals alter during cognitive tasks in ME/CFS. This prospective observational study utilised MRI scans on ME/CFS participants and healthy controls (HCs) with sedentary lifestyles (ACTRN12622001095752). Participants completed two blocks of a Symbol Digit Modalities Test, with 30 trials per block split into two sets. The fMRI signal changes between blocks and sets were compared within and between groups. Thirty-four ME/CFS participants (38 years +/- 10; 27 women) and 34 HCs (38 +/- 10; 27 women), were evaluated. In the second task block, ME/CFS participants exhibited increased activation in the right postcentral gyrus, contrasting with decreased activation in multiple regions in HCs. These results were further confirmed by significantly higher bilateral dynamic changes (2nd vs 1st set) in the motor, sensory and cognitive cortex in ME/CFS compared to HCs and significant correlations between those changes in the left primary motor cortex with fatigue severities. BOLD adaptation, potentially improving energy economy, was absent in ME/CFS, which may provide an underlying neurophysiological process in ME/CFS.
Details
- Title
- Absence of BOLD adaptation in chronic fatigue syndrome revealed by task functional MRI
- Authors
- Laura Schonberg (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteAbdalla Z. Mohamed (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteQiang Yu (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteRichard A. Kwiatek (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstitutePeter Del Fante (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteVince D. Calhoun (Author) - Georgia State UniversityZack Y. Shan (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson Institute
- Publication details
- Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Vol.45(1), pp.115-124
- Publisher
- Sage Publications Ltd.
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1177/0271678X241270528
- ISSN
- 1559-7016
- PMID
- 39113421; PMC11840696
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2024. Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
- Data Availability
- The demographics, symptom scores, and neural correlates (subject-level contrast maps) of each participant were available on Mendeley Data.
- Organisation Unit
- Thompson Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991060559102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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