Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;8(3):e59728.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059728. Epub 2013 Mar 22.

Brain areas controlling heart rate variability in tinnitus and tinnitus-related distress

Sven Vanneste  1 , Dirk De Ridder
Affiliations

Brain areas controlling heart rate variability in tinnitus and tinnitus-related distress

Sven Vanneste et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Background: Tinnitus is defined as an intrinsic sound perception that cannot be attributed to an external sound source. Distress in tinnitus patients is related to increased beta activity in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate and the amount of distress correlates with network activity consisting of the amygdala-anterior cingulate cortex-insula-parahippocampus. Previous research also revealed that distress is associated to a higher sympathetic (OS) tone in tinnitus patients and tinnitus suppression to increased parasympathetic (PS) tone.

Methodology: The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between tinnitus distress and the autonomic nervous system and find out which cortical areas are involved in the autonomic nervous system influences in tinnitus distress by the use of source localized resting state electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and electrocardiogram (ECG). Twenty-one tinnitus patients were included in this study.

Conclusions: The results indicate that the dorsal and subgenual anterior cingulate, as well as the left and right insula are important in the central control of heart rate variability in tinnitus patients. Whereas the sympathovagal balance is controlled by the subgenual and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the right insula controls sympathetic activity and the left insula the parasympathetic activity. The perceived distress in tinnitus patients seems to be sympathetically mediated.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Negative correlation between LF (sympathetic+parasympathetic) HRV and Alpha activity in the left insula (BA13), indicating that decreased alpha activity in the left insula goes together with increased LF-HRV.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Positive correlation between HF (parasympathetic) HRV and Alpha activity in the rostral portions of the superior temporal gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus (BA21/38).
That is increased activity in the rostral portions of the superior temporal gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus goes together with increased HF-HRV.
Figure 3
Figure 3. (a) Positive correlation between LF/HF-ratio (sympathetic/parasympathetic ratio) HRV and theta activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (BA25) (r = .43, p<.05); (b) & (c) Negative correlation between LF/HF-ratio HRV and High Beta (r = −.45, p<.05) and Gamma activity (r = −.46, p<.05) in the left pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (BA24) extending into dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (BA9).
Figure 4
Figure 4. A positive correlation between the distress as measured with the TQ and the whole brain demonstrated a significant effect for the pregenual/subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (BA24/25) (r = .42, p<.05) for the alpha frequency band.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Scatterplots and regression lines for respectively the lateralization index of the insula for Alpha and LF/HF-ratio.
Significant negative correlation were found between lateralization index of the insula for Alpha activity and LF/HF-ratio (r = −.45, p<.05) and Gamma activity and LF/HF-ratio (r = −.43, p<.05).
Figure 6
Figure 6. A marginal significant interaction effect between distress (low vs. high) and LF/HF-ratio (low vs. high) for the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex in the high beta (F = 2.93, p = .10) and gamma (F = 3.27, p = .09) frequency band.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Moller AR (2007) Tinnitus: presence and future. Prog Brain Res 166: 3–16. - PubMed
    1. Baguley DM (2002) Mechanisms of tinnitus. Br Med Bull 63: 195–212. - PubMed
    1. Eggermont JJ, Roberts LE (2004) The neuroscience of tinnitus. Trends Neurosci 27: 676–682. - PubMed
    1. Heller AJ (2003) Classification and epidemiology of tinnitus. Otolaryngol Clin North Am 36: 239–248. - PubMed
    1. Axelsson A, Ringdahl A (1989) Tinnitus–a study of its prevalence and characteristics. Br J Audiol 23: 53–62. - PubMed

Publication types