Multimodal characterisation of brain function and blood flow, neuronal metabolism and genetic risk structure

Project description

This project is part of the SLEEP-NEURO-PATH research network, which is coordinated by the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim and has a total of three partners.

ME/CFS is a severe neuroimmunological disease that often leads to a high degree of physical and mental disability. The overall goal of the project is to characterise biological mechanisms associated with brain dysfunction in ME/CFS, such as cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, headaches, sleep dsfunction, and hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli. The activity of specific nerve cell networks during sleep can serve as a "window into brain function." Selected sleep characteristics, such as sleep spindles, reflect the functional integrity of neuronal networks that are involved in important functions such as memory formation, sleep stabilisation, and processing of sensory stimuli. Dysfunctions of these networks are connected with multimodal imaging and biochemical studies of the function of the vascular bed. These are supplemented by the determination of polygenic risk profiles. This approach makes it possible to characterise biological mechanisms at the system level and to derive predictors for ME/CFS at the individual level, offering new approaches for future personalised therapy.

The aim of the CIMH is to investigate sleep spindles as a correlate of thalamocortical network function and the multimodal characterisation of brain function, cerebral blood flow and neuronal metabolism in relation to the genetic risk structure for vascular diseases. The longitudinal approach also examines whether clinically significant changes are associated with measurable pathophysiological correlates.

(Description adapted from project website: see link above)