The Effects of Yoga on Brain GABA Levels

瑜伽对大脑 GABA 水平的影响

• 批准号: 7599575
• 负责人: Chris Conway Streeter
• 金额: $ 32.44万
• 依托单位: BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-04-01 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7599575
• 关键词: Acute; Adverse effects; Alcohol dependence; Anxiety; Brain; Brain Chemistry; Butyric Acids; Cocaine Dependence; Complementary and alternative medicine; Controlled Study; Data; Dependency; Disease; Epilepsy; Exhibits; Goals; Health; Hour; Image; Individual; Intervention; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Measures; Monitor; Moods; Neurotransmitters; Randomized; Reading; Recruitment Activity; Relative (related person); Reporting; Risk; Scanning; Symptoms; System; Techniques; Testing; Therapeutic Intervention; Time; Treatment Cost; Yoga; cost; depression; depressive symptoms; experience; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; multidisciplinary; productivity loss; public health relevance; response

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques such as yoga increases, it is important that the mechanisms through which yoga exerts its salubrious effects are elucidated. This study assesses the effects of a 12-week yoga intervention on the level of the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA), using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Using MRS, GABA levels have been shown to be low in subjects with depression, anxiety, epilepsy, cocaine dependence, and alcohol dependence. All of these disorders are treated with pharmacologic agents known to increase the activity of the GABA system. Controlled studies have shown that the practice of yoga also decreases symptoms in depression, anxiety, and epilepsy. In a previous study using MRS, experienced yoga practitioners demonstrated a 27% increase in brain GABA levels following a 60-minute yoga session in contrast with a .001% change found in controls after a 60-minute reading session. This suggests that yoga increases brain GABA levels, and should therefore be explored as a therapeutic intervention in disorders in which brain GABA levels are low. This application proposes a longitudinal study of 60 subjects that will be randomized into a yoga group or a reading group. Each group will participate in a 12-week intervention that will be composed of 60- minutes of Iyengar yoga or reading three times a week for a maximum of 36 interventions. Mood scales will be collected at the beginning and end of each session. Individuals will also participate in three imaging sessions comprised of mood scales followed by a MRS scan at the following times: Scan 1 at baseline prior to randomization; Scan 2 after 12-weeks of either a yoga or reading intervention; Scan 3 approximately one hour after Scan 2 during which time subjects will participate in either a 60-minute yoga or reading session depending on the group assignment. This study will explore the following hypotheses: 1) There will be no difference in baseline GABA levels at Scan 1 between the yoga group and the reading group; 2) The yoga group will exhibit a greater increase in brain GABA levels from baseline than the reading group (Scan 2 - Scan 1); 3) The yoga group will exhibit a greater acute increase in GABA levels after the intrascan intervention than the reading group (Scan 3 - Scan 2); 4&5) Pre and Post session mood scales will show greater improvement in mood over the course of the 12-week intervention in the yoga group compared to the reading group; 6) Acute changes in mood scales (Post-Pre) will be greater in the yoga group compared to the reading group; 7) Improvement in mood states and increases in brain GABA levels will be positively correlated. Public Health Relevance: Disorders associated with low brain GABA states such as depression, and anxiety, cost the U.S billions of dollars each year in treatment costs and loss of productivity, not to mention the personal costs to the individual. This study will test the hypothesis that the practice of yoga significantly increases brain GABA levels. If confirmed this would suggest that the risk-to-benefit ratio of exploring the efficacy of yoga as a treatment for low GABA states is excellent, in that the practice of yoga promotes general health, has few side effects if practiced correctly and has no risk of secondary dependencies, which often occur with some pharmacologic treatments.

描述（由申请人提供）：作为使用互补和替代药物（CAM）技术（例如瑜伽的增加），重要的是要阐明瑜伽施加其分析作用的机制。这项研究使用磁共振光谱（MRS）评估了12周瑜伽干预对大脑原发性抑制性神经递质伽马氨基酸（GABA）水平的影响。使用MRS，在患有抑郁，焦虑，癫痫，可卡因依赖性和酒精依赖性的受试者中，GABA水平已被证明很低。所有这些疾病均用已知增加GABA系统活性的药理剂治疗。对照研究表明，瑜伽的实践还降低了抑郁，焦虑和癫痫的症状。在先前使用MRS的研究中，经验丰富的瑜伽从业人员表明，在60分钟的瑜伽疗程后，与60分钟的阅读课程相比，在对照组中发现了0.001％的变化，大脑GABA水平增加了27％。这表明瑜伽会增加脑GABA水平，因此应作为对脑GABA水平较低的疾病的治疗干预进行探讨。该申请提出了对60名受试者的纵向研究，该研究将随机分为瑜伽组或阅读组。每个小组将参加为期12周的干预措施，该干预措施将由60分钟的Iyengar瑜伽组成或每周阅读3次，最多36次干预。情绪尺度将在每个会话的开始和结束时收集。个体还将参加三个由情绪尺度组成的成像会话，然后在以下时间进行MRS扫描：在随机分组之前的基线时进行扫描1；在12周的瑜伽或阅读干预措施后进行扫描2；扫描大约在扫描2后3小时扫描，在此期间，受试者将根据小组分配参加60分钟的瑜伽或阅读课程。这项研究将探讨以下假设：1）瑜伽组和阅读组之间的扫描1基线GABA水平没有差异； 2）瑜伽组将比基线表现出大脑GABA水平的增加（扫描2-扫描1）； 3）与阅读组相比，瑜伽组将在内部干预后表现出更大的GABA水平急性增加（SCAN 3-扫描2）； 4和5）与阅读组相比，在瑜伽组的12周干预过程中，会议前和后的情绪量表将在12周的干预过程中表现出更大的情绪改善； 6）与阅读组相比，瑜伽组的情绪尺度急性变化（pre）将更大； 7）情绪状态的改善和大脑GABA水平的提高将呈正相关。 公共卫生相关性：与抑郁症和焦虑症等脑力较低的州相关的疾病，每年花费美国数十亿美元的治疗成本和生产率损失，更不用说个人的个人费用了。这项研究将检验以下假设：瑜伽的实践显着提高了脑GABA水平。如果确认这将表明，探索瑜伽作为对低GABA状态的治疗的疗效的风险与效力比非常好，因为瑜伽的实践促进一般健康，如果正确实践并且没有中学依赖性的风险，通常会在某些药理治疗中发生副作用。