title: Brain-heart communication: Evidence for "central pacemaker" oscillations with a dominant frequency at 0.1Hz in the cingulum.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In the brain and heart, oscillations at about 0.1Hz are conspicuous. It is therefore worthwhile to study the interaction between intrinsic BOLD oscillations (0.1Hz) and slow oscillations in heart rate interval (RRI) signals and differentiate between their neural and vascular origin.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the phase-coupling with a 3T scanner with high scanning rate between BOLD signals in 22 regions and simultaneously recorded RRI oscillations in 23 individuals in two resting states.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By applying a hierarchical cluster analysis, it was possible to separate two clusters of phase-coupling between slow BOLD and RRI oscillations in the midcingulum, one representative for neural and the other for vascular BOLD oscillations. About half of the participants revealed positive time delays characteristic for neural BOLD oscillations and neurally-driven RRI oscillations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that slow vascular and neural BOLD oscillations can be differentiated and that intrinsic oscillations (0.1Hz) originate in the cingulum or its close vicinity and contribute to heart rate variability (HRV).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provides new insights into the dynamics of resting state activities, helps to explain HRV, and offers the possibility to investigate slow rhythmic neural activity changes in different brain regions without EEG recording.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neural Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Austria; BioTechMed Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pfurtscheller
authors.affiliation: Health Psychology and Applied Diagnostics, University of Wuppertal, Germany. Electronic address: andreas.schwerdtfeger@uni-wuppertal.de.
authors.forename: Andreas R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Schwerdtfeger
authors.affiliation: BioTechMed Graz, Austria; Department of Neuroradiology and Department of Neurology, Section of Biomagnetism, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Germany; Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seither-Preisler
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria; BioTechMed Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Austria; BioTechMed Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefan Aigner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brito
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Marciano P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Carmo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andrade
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010507:Periodicity; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: 0.1-Hz oscillations; BOLD oscillations; Central commands; Central pacemaker; Heart rate variability; Resting state