The Comparison of Alpha Power, Peak Alpha Frequency and Frontal Alpha Asymmetry between Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Healthy People

Authors
1 University of Tehran
2 , University of Toronto
3 Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by abdominal pain, discomfort and change in the intestinal habits. The aim of this study was the comparison of brain oscillations features between patients with IBS and healthy control, speciallity in alpha frequency band by using rest-electroencephalography (EEG). 11 IBS patients (7 females and 4 male) and 11 healthy (7 females and 4 male), gender and age-matched, were selected and brain oscillations were recorded by a 64-channel EEG at rest in eye-closed condition. Alpha power, peak alpha frequency and frontal alpha asymmetry were calculated and analyzed by fast Fourier transform and independent t test. The results showed that in IBS group, the average of alpha was higher, the peak alpha frequency and frontal alpha asymmetry are lower than healthy control. Our findings indicated that difference between healthy control and IBS group in their cortical functions and generated brain wave oscillation, specifically in alpha frequency bands. Theses results may serve as a biomarker and prognostic tools for IBS treatments.
Keywords

Bazanova, O. M., & Vernon, D. (2014). Interpreting EEG alpha activity. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 44, 94-110. Cohen, M. X. (2014). Analyzing Neural Time Series Data: Theory and Practice.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Bonnert, M., Olén, O., Bjureberg, J., Lalouni, M., Hedman-Lagerlöf, E., Serlachius, E., & Ljótsson, B. (2018). The role of avoidance behavior in the treatment of adolescents with irritable bowel syndrome: a mediation analysis. Behaviour research and therapy, 105,27-35. doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2018.03.006.
Cheron, G., Petit, G., Cheron, J., Leroy, A., Cebolla, A., Cevallos, C., ... & Dan, B. (2016). Brain oscillations in sport: toward EEG biomarkers of performance. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 246.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00246.
Coan, J. A., & Allen, J. J. (2004). Frontal EEG asymmetry as a moderator and mediator of emotion. Biological psychology, 67(1-2), 7-50.
Davidson, R. J. (1998). Anterior electrophysiological asymmetries, emotion, and depression: Conceptual and methodological conundrums. Psychophysiology, 35(5), 607-614.
Delorme, A., & Makeig, S. (2004). EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis. Journal of neuroscience methods, 134(1), 9-21.
De Vries, M., Wilder-Smith, O. H., Jongsma, M. L., van den Broeke, E. N., Arns, M., Van
Goor, H., & van Rijn, C. M. (2013). Altered resting state EEG in chronic pancreatitis patients: toward a marker for chronic pain. Journal of pain research, 6, 815. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S50919
Drossman, D. A. (2016). Functional gastrointestinal disorders: history, pathophysiology, clinical features, and Rome IV. Gastroenterology, 150(6), 1262-1279.
Drossman, D. A. (2006). The functional gastrointestinal disorders and the Rome III process. Journal of Gastroenterology, 130, 1377-90. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2006.03.008.
Furman, A. J., Prokhorenko, M., Keaser, M. L., Zhang, J., Chen, S., Mazaheri, A., & Seminowicz, D. A. (2020). Sensorimotor peak alpha frequency is a reliable biomarker of pain sensitivity. BioRxiv,1-30. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/613299.
Jaworska, N., Blier, P., Fusee, W., & Knott, V. (2012). Alpha power, alpha asymmetry and anterior cingulate cortex activity in depressed males and females. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46, 1483–1491. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.08.003.
Jensen, M. P., Gianas, A., Sherlin, L. H., & Howe, J. D. (2015). Pain catastrophizing and EEG-alpha asymmetry. The Clinical journal of pain, 31(10), 852-860.
Jones, M. P., Dilley, J. B., Drossman, D., & Crowell, M. D. (2006). Brain-gut connections in functional GI disorders: anatomic and physiologic relationships. Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 18, 91-103. doi:10.1111/j.1365982.2005.00730.x.
Icenhour, A., Witt, S. T., Elsenbruch, S., Lowén, M., Engström, M., Tillisch, K., ... & Walter, S. (2017). Brain functional connectivity is associated with visceral sensitivity in women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. NeuroImage: Clinical, 15, 449-457. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.06.001.
Kaiser, A. K., Gnjezda, M. T., Knasmüller, S., & Aichhorn, W. (2018). Electroencephalogram alpha asymmetry in patients with depressive disorders: current perspectives. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 14, 1493. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S137776.
Kan, D. P. X., & Lee, P. F. (2015, May). Decrease alpha waves in depression: An electroencephalogram (EEG) study. In 2015 International Conference on BioSignal Analysis, Processing and Systems (ICBAPS) (pp. 156-161). IEEE.
Kemp, A. H., Griffiths, K., Felmingham, K. L., Shankman, S. A., Drinkenburg, W. H. I. M., Arns, M., ... & Bryant, R. A. (2010). Disorder specificity despite comorbidity: resting EEG alpha asymmetry in major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Biological psychology, 85(2), 350-354.
Kennedy, P. J., Clarke, G., O ‘Neill, A., Groeger, J. A., Quigley, E. M. M., Shanahan, F., ... & Dinan, T. G. (2014). Cognitive performance in irritable bowel syndrome: evidence of a stress-related impairment in visuospatial memory. Psychological medicine, 44(7), 1553-1566.
Klimesch, W. (1999). EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis. Brain research reviews, 29(2-3), 169-195.
Lim, M., Kim, J. S., Kim, D. J., & Chung, C. K. (2016). Increased low-and high-frequency oscillatory activity in the prefrontal cortex of fibromyalgia patients. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 10, 111. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00111
Mathersul, D., Williams, L. M., Hopkinson, P. J., & Kemp, A. H. (2008). Investigating models of affect: Relationships among EEG alpha asymmetry, depression, and anxiety. Emotion, 8(4), 560–572.
Mayer, E. A., Naliboff, B. D., & Craig, A. B. (2006). Neuroimaging of the brain-gut axis: from basic understanding to treatment of functional GI disorders. Gastroenterology, 131(6), 1925-1942.
Muscatello, M. R. A., Bruno, A., Mento, C., Pandolfo, G., & Zoccali, R. A. (2016). Personality traits and emotional patterns in irritable bowel syndrome. World journal of gastroenterology, 22(28), 6402-6415.
Nir, R. R., Sinai, A., Raz, E., Sprecher, E., & Yarnitsky, D. (2010). Pain assessment by continuous EEG: association between subjective perception of tonic pain and peak frequency of alpha oscillations during stimulation and at rest. Brain research, 1344, 77-86. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.05.004.
Nomura, T., Fukudo, S., Matsuoka, H., & Hongo, M. (1999). Abnormal electroencephalogram in irritable bowel syndrome. Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology, 34(5), 478-484.
Phillips, K., Wright, B. J., & Kent, S. (2014). Irritable bowel syndrome and symptom severity: Evidence of negative attention bias, diminished vigour, and autonomic dysregulation. Journal of psychosomatic research, 77(1), 13-19.
Pizzagalli, D. (2007). Electroencephalography and high-density electrophysiological source localization. In J. T. Caccioppo, L. G. Tassinary, & G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology (3rd ed., pp. 56–84). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ploner, M., Sorg, C., & Gross, J. (2017). Brain rhythms of pain. Trends in cognitive sciences, 21(2), 100-110.
Reznik, S. J., & Allen, J. J. (2018). Frontal asymmetry as a mediator and moderator of emotion: An updated review. Psychophysiology, 55(1), e12965.
Sayuk, G. S., & Gyawali, C. P. (2015). Irritable bowel syndrome: modern concepts and management options. The American journal of medicine, 128(8), 817-827.
Seminowicz, D. A., Thapa, T., Furman, A. J., Summers, S. J., Cavaleri, R., Fogarty, J. S., ... & Schabrun, S. M. (2018). Slow peak alpha frequency and corticomotor depression linked to high pain susceptibility in transition to sustained pain. bioRxiv, 278598. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/278598.
Shuster, J., & Toplak, M. E. (2009). Executive and motivational inhibition: Associations with self-report measures related to inhibition. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(2), 471-480.
Spiegel, B. M. R. (2009). The Burden of IBS: Looking at Metrics. Journal of Current Gastroenterology Reports, 11, 265-269.
Stewart, J. L., Bismark, A. W., Towers, D. N., Coan, J. A., & Allen, J. J. (2010). Resting frontal EEG asymmetry as an endophenotype for depression risk: Sex-specific patterns of frontal brain asymmetry. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(3), 502–512.
Urigüen, J. A., & Garcia-Zapirain, B. (2015). EEG artifact removal—state-of-the-art and guidelines. Journal of neural engineering, 12(3), 031001. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/12/3/031001
van Diepen, R. M., & Mazaheri, A. (2017). Cross‐sensory modulation of alpha oscillatory activity: suppression, idling, and default resource allocation. European Journal of Neuroscience, 45(11), 1431-1438.
Walton, K. D., Dubois, M., & Llinas, R. R. (2010). Abnormal thalamocortical activity in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type I. Pain, 150(1), 41-51.