The cerebral cost of breathing: an FMRI case-study in congenital central hypoventilation syndrome.

ABSTRACT: Certain motor activities--like walking or breathing--present the interesting property of proceeding either automatically or under voluntary control. In the case of breathing, brainstem structures located in the medulla are in charge of the automatic mode, whereas cortico-subcortical brain networks--including various frontal lobe areas--subtend the voluntary mode. We speculated that the involvement of cortical activity during voluntary breathing could impact both on the "resting state" pattern of cortical-subcortical connectivity, and on the recruitment of executive functions mediated by the frontal lobe. In order to test this prediction we explored a patient suffering from central congenital hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), a very rare developmental condition secondary to brainstem dysfunc

SUBMITTER: Sharman M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4182437 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature