Chemosensitive brainstem and diencephalic components in breath-hold fMRI

Cauzzo, S.; Callara, A. L.; Morelli, M. S.; Hartwig, V.; Sozzi, S.; Frijia, F.; Esposito, F.; Bianciardi, M.; Montanaro, D.; Passino, C.; Emdin, M.; Giannoni, A.; Vanello, N.

doi:10.1101/2025.04.11.648311

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.04.11.648311

Chemosensitive brainstem and diencephalic components in breath-hold fMRI

Cauzzo, S.·Callara, A. L.·Morelli, M. S.·Hartwig, V.·Sozzi, S.·Frijia, F.·Esposito, F.·Bianciardi, M.·Montanaro, D.·Passino, C.·Emdin, M.·Giannoni, A.·Vanello, N.

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

ObjectiveThe knowledge on breathing control and central chemoreception, key subcortical functions involved in several neuropathologies, is still mainly based on animal studies. In humans, functional MRI (fMRI) offers the needed spatio-temporal resolution and non-invasiveness, but the lack of specific tools and preprocessing solutions hinders its use in brainstem studies. We hereby propose an original fMRI analysis pipeline aimed at unravelling central chemoreception mechanisms, by integrating acquisition, spatial coregistration, noise removal and a novel data-driven analysis solution to compare network activation levels across tasks or conditions in fMRI. ApproachNovel analysis methodologies are integrated with the optimization of known preprocessing approaches to physiological noise correction and brainstem-focused coregistration. We couple independent components of fMRI data, separately estimated from healthy subjects during Free Breathing (FB) and Breath Hold (BH), by means of spatial correlation. We then identify statistically significant differences between BH and FB in CO2-dependent components by means of voxel-wise comparisons of components percent signal change. Components were localized using the Brainstem Navigator Atlas for enhancing network interpretability. Main ResultsUsing the pipeline we characterized CO2-related BOLD oscillations within the central control system of breathing. We corroborated the primary chemoreceptive role of medullary raphe in healthy subjects. We observed that BH over-activated ascending sensory-motor projections through the postero-lateral thalamus, descending projections through the putamen, and peripheral sensations entry points in the dorsal medulla. We highlighted the role of latero-dorsal tegmentum in the response to hypercapnia-induced aversive effects. SignificanceOur method allows to non-invasively locate primary chemoreception and related arousal triggers, characterizing alterations and therefore fostering the identification of therapeutic targets in abnormal breathing. Moreover, the proposed strategy addresses the issues of inter-task comparison among homologous independent sources, of their characterization and interpretation. Its extension could benefit all similarly challenging brainstem-focused studies, including those on Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases.

Explore related subjects

bioengineering Preprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Cauzzo, S., Callara, A. L., Morelli, M. S., Hartwig, V., Sozzi, S., Frijia, F., Esposito, F., Bianciardi, M., Montanaro, D., Passino, C., Emdin, M., Giannoni, A., Vanello, N.. 2025-04-17. Chemosensitive brainstem and diencephalic components in breath-hold fMRI. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.11.648311

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Synergy-informed bilevel optimization reveals joint-specific benefits for realistic exoskeleton torque prediction

Simulation-driven optimization can guide exoskeleton control design, but its utility is limited by the accuracy with which muscle coordination is predicted. Strict effort-minimization formulations predict non-physiological muscle shutdown under high exoskeleton assistance, leading to peak assistive torques that exceed values reported in human-in-the-loop experiments. We evaluated the accuracy of synergy-informed simulations at predicting assistance across four single-joint exoskeleton configurations: ankle plantarflexion, knee extension, hip flexion, and hip abduction. We implemented a bilevel optimization to predict a parameterized assistive torque that minimizes metabolic cost, with assisted muscle dynamics estimated via either effort-minimization simulations (minimizing muscle effort only) or synergy-informed simulations (minimizing muscle effort constrained to a synergy structure). We used experimental data from five unimpaired adults walking at their preferred speed and compared results descriptively between the two formulations within each subject. Assistance based on effort-minimization simulations shut down agonist muscle activations and overestimated peak assistive torque compared with experimental values. In contrast, constraining muscle controls to a synergy structure prevented non-physiological muscle shutdown and yielded assistive torques closer to those measured in human-in-the-loop experiments. This benefit was not observed equally across all assisted degrees of freedom or subjects, emerging only where no single synergy could be suppressed to unload the assisted muscles. Synergy weights can therefore be interpreted as joint-specific predictors of when simulations can reliably inform wearable robot design.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2026

Engineered microvessel networks -- Longitudinal transcriptomic profiling validates chip-grown tissues as a robust model for studying vasculature

Vascularised Organ-on-Chip (OoC) models are promising New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), but their translation requires validation for defined Contexts of Use (CoU). Here, we combine microfluidic microvessel networks (MVNs) with longitudinal bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing to determine how cell provenance influences engineered vascular phenotype. Stromal cell identity produced distinct network architectures and transcriptional trajectories, demonstrating that support cells, commonly treated as interchangeable, represent an important CoU variable. Primary human pancreatic microvascular endothelial cells failed to form stable perfusable networks, but supplementation with 10% Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) or Blood Outgrowth Endothelial Cells (BOECs) rescued self-assembly. Single-cell transcriptomics identified specialised endothelial populations associated with vascular morphogenesis, including tip, stalk, phalanx, endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT) and pericyte-like endothelial cells. Failed networks lacked coherent endothelial specialisation, whereas rescued networks restored stabilising cell states and revealed FLRT2--UNC5B signalling within pericyte-like HUVECs, recapitulating a pathway implicated in angiogenic development in vivo. These findings establish cell provenance as a critical determinant of microvascular NAM performance and demonstrate how transcriptomic validation can define and strengthen the biological relevance of microvessel-on-chip models for specific CoUs.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2026

Benchmarking foundation models for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging time series in cognitive aging research

Foundation models trained on large neuroimaging datasets could help smaller studies investigate cognition from brain recordings. However, whether the foundation model-derived representations improve assessment of current cognition, prediction of follow-up cognition, or characterization of cognitive change remains unclear. We evaluated nine configurations from five model families that process regional resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging time series, using 3,103 scans from 1,653 participants across two observational and five intervention aging cohorts. Primary frozen representations showed no consistent superiority over conventional functional connectivity for concurrent cognitive associations or diagnostic classification. Changing the readout improved selected concurrent cognitive associations without updating model weights, indicating that performance depended partly on how representations were extracted. Additional post-training and embedding alignment yielded gains in selected settings but did not consistently improve performance across outcomes. In the primary longitudinal analyses, imaging representations did not establish added value beyond baseline clinical measures. These findings show that readout choice influences concurrent cognitive associations, while the added value of these representations for longitudinal outcomes remains unestablished.

bioengineering↗