• Jui-Yang Hong, Lisa A Kilpatrick, Jennifer S Labus, Arpana Gupta, David Katibian, Cody Ashe-McNalley, Jean Stains, Nuwanthi Heendeniya, Suzanne R Smith, Kirsten Tillisch, Bruce Naliboff, and Emeran A Mayer.
• Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress, Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095.
• J. Neurosci. 2014 Oct 22;34(43):14252-9.

AbstractResting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging has been used to investigate intrinsic brain connectivity in healthy subjects and patients with chronic pain. Sex-related differences in the frequency power distribution within the human insula (INS), a brain region involved in the integration of interoceptive, affective, and cognitive influences, have been reported. Here we aimed to test sex and disease-related alterations in the intrinsic functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior INS. The anterior INS is engaged during goal-directed tasks and modulates the default mode and executive control networks. By comparing functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior INS in age-matched female and male healthy subjects and patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common chronic abdominal pain condition, we show evidence for sex and disease-related alterations in the functional connectivity of this region: (1) male patients compared with female patients had increased positive connectivity of the dorsal anterior INS bilaterally with the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and dorsal posterior INS; (2) female patients compared with male patients had greater negative connectivity of the left dorsal anterior INS with the left precuneus; (3) disease-related differences in the connectivity between the bilateral dorsal anterior INS and the dorsal medial PFC were observed in female subjects; and (4) clinical characteristics were significantly correlated to the insular connectivity with the dorsal medial PFC in male IBS subjects and with the precuneus in female IBS subjects. These findings are consistent with the INS playing an important role in modulating the intrinsic functional connectivity of major networks in the resting brain and show that this role is influenced by sex and diagnosis.Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3414252-08$15.00/0.

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