Qigong Institute

Author: Justin J Polcari¹, Ryan J Cali², Benjamin C Nephew³, Senbao Lu⁴, Mikhail Rashkovskii⁵, Julianne Wu⁶, Frances Saadeh⁷, Eric Loucks⁸, Jean A King⁹
Affiliation:
¹ Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: jjpolcari@wpi.edu.
² Dept. of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: rcali@mgh.harvard.edu.
³ Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: bnephew@wpi.edu.
⁴ Dept. of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: slu3@wpi.edu.
⁵ Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: mrashkovskii@wpi.edu.
⁶ Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: jiarongw@middlebury.edu.
⁷ Dept. of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States of America. Electronic address: frances_saadeh@brown.edu.
⁸ Dept. of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States of America. Electronic address: eric_loucks@brown.edu.
⁹ Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States of America. Electronic address: jaking@wpi.edu.
Conference/Journal: J Affect Disord
Date published: 2022 May 16
Other: Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.05.059. , Word Count: 257

Background:
Hypertension-related illnesses are a leading cause of disability and death in the United States, where hypertension prevalence in adults is 46%, with only half of those afflicted having it under control. Due to the significant challenges in long-term efficacy and adverse effects associated with pharmacological interventions, there is an eminent need for complimentary approaches for treating hypertension. Although initial studies of the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction program (MB-BP) indicate that this novel 8-week intervention is effective at inducing lasting decreases in blood pressure, the neural correlates are unknown.

Methods:
The objectives of this study were to identify structural neural correlates of MB-BP using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) and assess potential correlations with key clinical outcomes.

Results:
In a subset of participants (14 MB-BP, 22 controls) from a larger stage IIa randomized controlled trial, MB-BP participants exhibited increased interoception and decreased depressive symptoms compared to controls. Analyses of DTI data revealed significant group differences in multiple white matter neural tracts associated with the limbic system and/or blood pressure. Specific changes in neural structural connectivity were significantly associated with measures of interoception and depression.

Limitations:
Limitations include small sample size (leading to insufficient power in the analysis of blood pressure) and the study duration (3 months). The main MRI limitation is suboptimal resolution in areas of extensive neural tract crossings.

Conclusions:
It is concluded that MB-BP induces alterations in brain structural connectivity which could mediate beneficial changes in depression and interoceptive awareness in individuals with hypertension.

Keywords: Depression; Diffusion tensor imaging; Hypertension; Interoception; MRI; Mindfulness.

PMID: 35594968 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.05.059

Qigong and Energy Medicine Database™

Effects of the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP) program on depression and neural structural connectivity