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Researcher
Associate Professor Leighton Barnden
Institution
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
Start date
September 2024
Funding
ME Research UK
Background
Many of the symptoms experienced by people with ME/CFS – including problems with concentration, memory, vision and heart-rate control – suggest abnormalities in the brain and nervous system. In fact, research has confirmed that there are changes to the brain structure of ME/CFS patients, as well as impairments in the connectivity between different regions of the brain, and disruption to the autonomic nervous system (which regulates many body functions).
Associate Professor Barnden and his team at Griffith University and the University of Queensland have been particularly active in investigating this area, and have previously completed an ME Research UK-funded study using a powerful 7-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to uncover a number of abnormalities in the brains of people with ME/CFS and long COVID.
In a series of publications, they have reported brainstem volume changes in both conditions (which correlated with measures of pain and breathing difficulty), as well as impaired functional connectivity between specific brain regions in ME/CFS, and during cognitive exertion in long COVID, and increased glutamate levels in ME/CFS and long COVID (which correlated with symptom severity).
However, one important question remaining is whether all these abnormalities remain stable or get worse over time with the clinical progression of the disease.
Objectives
In this new study, the group therefore plans to use 7-Tesla MRI to track the progression of these brain abnormalities – as well as their association with clinical symptoms – in 40 people with ME/CFS over the course of 3 years. They will also assess 40 healthy individuals over the same time, as a control group.
Associate Professor Barnden’s colleagues in this study include Dr Kiran Thapaliya and Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik also from Griffith University, and Dr Natalie Eaton-Fitch from the University of Queensland.
All patients will fulfil the Canadian Consensus Criteria and International Consensus Criteria for a diagnosis of ME/CFS, and no participants will have any other condition that may affect the results.
Over the course of 3 years, the researchers will track changes in a wide range of parameters assessed using MRI, including:
- Cortical volume, thickness and white matter (the cerebral cortex is responsible for cognition);
- Networks of brain activation and functional connectivity (i.e. communication between different parts of the brain);
- Myelin and iron dysregulation (both of which affect nerve signal transmission);
- Myelin and axonal integrity (which also contribute to connections between regions of the brain); and
- Levels of various neurochemicals linked to neuroinflammation in the brain.
The participants will also undergo comprehensive assessments of their clinical symptoms and the impact of ME/CFS on their quality of life, and additional analyses will look at whether there are any relationships between the brain changes measured using MRI and the symptoms of ME/CFS.
Potential benefits
The researchers believe that this study has the potential to expand our knowledge of ME/CFS by providing valuable insights into brain changes in ME/CFS over time, understanding how ME/CFS affects various brain regions, and identifying some of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.
In addition to providing a better understanding of how the brain is affected by ME/CFS, they hope that the findings will help in the identification of biomarkers that, in turn, will pave the way to the development of novel drugs targeting specific brain changes, and which may therefore cure, slow or halt disease progression.
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Griffith University issued a press release to promote the award of this new grant
Other ME Research UK-funded projects on the brain and nervous system
