Altered interoceptive processing in Multiple sclerosis

SOL ESTEVES; MIGUEL MARTORELL; VLADIMIRO J. SINAY; ADOLFO GARCÍA; PAULA CELESTE SALAMONE; SOFÍA ABREVAYA; AGUSTINA LEGAZ; DIANA BRUNO; AGUSTÍN IBÁÑEZ; INDIRA GARCÍA-CORDERO; FLORENCIA ALIFANO; FÁTIMA PAGANI CASSARÁ; LUCAS SEDENO

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Encuentro; 2nd LABMAN Meeting; 2016

Latin American Brain Mapping

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and idiopathic disorder characterized by multifocal inflammation and demyelination of the central nervous system. Besides its neurocognitive deficits, this disease involves symptoms related to the processing of body signals (such as pain, fatigue, temperature and olfactory perception). This group of alterations might be related to deficits in interoception, which is defined as the ability to sense body information. To examine this possibility, we conducted the first systematic, multidimensional assessment of interoception in multiple sclerosis, integrating electrophysiological, and neuroimaging evidence.We assessed 80 adults, 46 healthy participants 34 multiple sclerosis patients to measure the Hearbeat evoked potential (HEP). The task consisted on a two Condition tapping test: (i) exteroception: external recorded heartbeat, and (ii) Interoception: tapping to ones own heart with no external measurement. ) Our results suggest that interoceptive processing may be altered in multiplesclerosis. (II) This deficit is supported by the alterations in the temporal dynamics of a neurocognitive marker of body attention (HEP), by the absence of correlation between this marker and the main anatomical hubs linked withinteroception, and finally by the alterations in the functional dynamics of the interoceptive network. (III) These findings highlight the relevance of a model of interoception in multiple sclerosis, since the deficits in this mechanism could underlie the series of bodily symptoms that this disease presents.