A new Modelling Framework to Study Time-Varying Directional Brain-Heart Interactions: Preliminary Evaluations and Perspectives

• Main Authors: Catrambone, V., Greco, A., Nardelli, M., Ghiasi, S., Vanello, N., Scilingo, Ep, Valenza, G.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation models; Brain modeling; Couplings; Electroencephalography; Heart rate variability; Oscillators
• ISSN: 1558-4615; 2694-0604
• DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2018.8513113

We propose a novel modelling framework to study non-stationary, directional brain-heart interplay in a time varying fashion. Considering electroencephalographic (EEG) signals and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) series as inputs, a new multivariate formulation is derived from proper coupling functions linking cortical electrical activity and heartbeat dynamics generation models. These neural-autonomic coupling rules are formalised according to the current knowledge on the central autonomic network and fully parametrised in adaptive coefficients quantifying the information outflow from-brain-to-heart as well as from-heart-to-brain. Such coefficients can be effectively estimated by solving the model inverse problem, and profitably exploited for a novel assessment of brain-heart interactions. Here we show preliminary experimental results gathered from 27 healthy volunteers undergoing significant sympatho-vagal perturbations through cold-pressor test and discuss prospective uses of this novel methodological frame- work. Specifically, we highlight how the directional brain-heart coupling significantly increases during prolonged baroreflex elicitation with specific time delays and throughout specific brain areas, especially including fronto-parietal regions and lateralisation mechanisms in the temporal cortices.