Biology subjects

Kastrati, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Kastrati, G..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Genetic Influences on Neural Responses in Placebo Analgesia Circuitry

Placebo analgesia is a well-established medical phenomenon with overlapping neural representations between humans and rodents, but the genetic contribution to this conserved neural circuitry remains unknown. Using functional brain imaging in 305 monozygotic and dizygotic twins, we quantified the heritability of neural activation in placebo analgesia brain circuity during evoked pain, including the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, brainstem and cerebellum, using the ACE model. Neural responses showed significant heritability, with additive genetics accounting for 21 to 49% of the variance (A = 0.21-0.49), indicating that genetics have a moderate effect on pain-evoked brain activity within the placebo analgesia circuitry. For the first time, our findings reveal a heritable component of the neural network supporting placebo analgesia. By linking genetic variations to neural responses in placebo analgesia circuitry, this study bridges human and preclinical research and opens new ways for improving clinical trial methodology and tailoring pain therapies to individual genetic profiles.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Offset analgesia and onset hyperalgesia: A comparison between women with non-suicidal self-injury and healthy women

IntroductionIndividuals who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) exhibit reduced pain sensitivity compared to the general population. It has been argued that this hypoalgesic characteristic may be attributable to hyper-effective pain modulation. However, empirical support for this theory remains inconsistent. ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to use a combined offset analgesia (OA) and onset hyperalgesia (OH) protocol to investigate if women with NSSI have a propensity to inhibit nociceptive signals to a higher degree (stronger OA response) and facilitate nociceptive signals to a lesser degree (weaker OH response), compared to a control group. MethodsData was collected from 76 women, 18-35 age (37 with NSSI and 39 healthy controls). The OA and OH protocol was combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). ResultsThe NSSI group displayed a weaker OH response, compared to the control group. This suggests that women with NSSI do not facilitate nociceptive signals to the same extent as healthy women. However, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding OA. Across all participants, we observed stronger activation in the primary sensory cortex during the OH condition, compared to the control condition. ConclusionsThe results offer partial support for the general hypothesis that women with NSSI demonstrate enhanced pain modulation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Gray Matter Differentiation Between Two Subordinate Personality Traits of Extraversion: Enthusiasm and Assertiveness

Enthusiasm and assertiveness are two subordinate personality traits of extraversion. These traits reflect different aspects of extroversion and have distinct implications on mental health. Whereas enthusiasm predicts satisfaction in life and positive relationships, assertiveness predicts psychological distress and reduced social support. The neural basis of these subordinate traits is not well understood. To investigate brain regions where enthusiasm and assertiveness have diverging relationship with morphology, enthusiasm and assertiveness were regressed to gray matter volume (GMV) across the whole brain in a sample of 301 healthy individuals. A significant interaction was found between enthusiasm and assertiveness in the left angular gyrus (t(296) = 4.18, family wise error corrected, FWE p = .001 (cluster-level); Cluster size = 880 voxels). Larger GMV in this area was associated with more enthusiasm and less assertiveness. Our study emphasizes the value of separating extraversion into its subordinate traits when investigating associations to neuroanatomy.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Whole Brain Correlates of Individual Differences in Skin Conductance Responses during Human Fear Conditioning

Understanding the neural basis for individual differences in the conditioned skin conductance response (SCR) may inform on autonomic regulation in fear-related psychopathology. Previous region-of-interest (ROI) analyses have implicated the amygdala in regulating conditioned SCR, but whole brain analyses are lacking. This study examined correlations between individual differences in conditioned SCR and neural activity throughout the whole brain by using data from a large functional magnetic resonance imaging study (N = 285). Results show that conditioned SCR correlates with activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/anterior midcingulate cortex, anterior insula, bilateral temporoparietal junction, right frontal operculum, bilateral dorsal premotor cortex, right superior parietal lobe and midbrain. A ROI analysis replicated a correlation between amygdala activity and conditioned SCR, but amygdala contribution to SCR was modest compared with other regions. We suggest that implicated neural regions belong to a large-scale midcingulo-insular network related to salience detection and autonomic-interoceptive processing. Altered activity within this network may underlie individual differences in conditioned SCR and autonomic aspects of psychopathology.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Genetic influences on brain activation and large-scale functional connectivity during nociceptive processing: a twin study

Nociceptive processing in the human brain is a signal that enables harm avoidance, with large interindividual variance. The relative contributions of genes and environment to the neural structures that support nociception have not been studied in twins previously. Here, we employed a classic twin-design to determine brain structures influenced by additive genetics. We found genetic influences on nociceptive processing in the midcingulate cortex, bilateral posterior insulae and thalamus. In addition to brain activations, we found genetic contributions to large-scale functional connectivity during nociceptive processing. We conclude that additive genetics influence specific aspects of nociceptive processing, which improves our understanding of human nociceptive processing.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Time-varying nodal measures with temporal community structure: a cautionary note to avoid misquantification

In network neuroscience, temporal network models have gained popularity. In these models, network properties have been related to cognition and behaviour. Here we demonstrate that calculating nodal properties that are dependent on temporal community structure (such as the participation coefficient) in time-varying contexts can potentially lead to misleading results. Specifically, with regards to the participation coefficient, increases in integration can be inferred when the opposite is occuring. Further, we present a temporal extension to the participation coefficient measure (temporal participation coefficient) that circumnavigates this problem by jointly considering all community partitions assigned to a node through time. The proposed method allows us to track a nodes integration through time while adjusting for the possible changes in the community structure of the overall network.

neuroscience↗