K Gopinath1, 2, W Ringe3, L Ouyang2, K Carter3, L Butler2, B Thapa-Chhetry2, A Goyal2, P Gandhi2, H Dinse4, R Haley5, R Briggs2, 5
1Department of Radiology & Imaging Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; 2Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 3Department of Psychiatry, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 4Institut fr Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany; 5Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States
Resting-state functional connectivity networks are influenced by the conditions under which fcMRI is conducted. Previous reports have demonstrated increased striatal functional connectivity to somatosensory and attention networks during minimally perceptible transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS-Lo), compared to eyes open resting (REST) conditions. In this study the functional connectivity to somatosensory and attention networks were assessed during strongly perceptible (but not painful) TENS (TENS-Hi), as well as REST conditions. During TENS_Hi dorsal striatal functional connectivity to somatosensory and attention networks was significantly weaker compared to REST. Combined with previous reports from TENS-Lo, results indicate a need for systematic graded TENS fcMRI studies.