scholarly journals Structural and functional thalamocortical connectivity study in female fibromyalgia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dajung J. Kim ◽  
Manyoel Lim ◽  
June Sic Kim ◽  
Chun Kee Chung
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Pain Modulation ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Structural Covariance ◽  
Posterior Thalamus ◽  
Left Posterior ◽  
Cortical Regions

AbstractDysfunctional thalamocortical interactions have been suggested as putative mechanisms of ineffective pain modulation and also suggested as possible pathophysiology of fibromyalgia (FM). However, it remains unclear which specific thalamocortical networks are altered and whether it is related to abnormal pain perception in people with FM. Here, we conducted combined vertex-wise subcortical shape, cortical thickness, structural covariance, and resting-state functional connectivity analyses to address these questions. FM group exhibited a regional shape deflation of the left posterior thalamus encompassing the ventral posterior lateral and pulvinar nuclei. The structural covariance analysis showed that the extent of regional deflation of the left posterior thalamus was negatively covaried with the left inferior parietal cortical thickness in the FM group, whereas those two regions were positively covaried in the healthy controls. In functional connectivity analysis with the left posterior thalamus as a seed, FM group had less connectivity with the periaqueductal gray compared with healthy controls, but enhanced connectivity between the posterior thalamus and bilateral inferior parietal regions, associated with a lower electrical pain threshold at the hand dorsum (pain-free point). Overall, our findings showed the structural thalamic alteration interacts with the cortical regions in a functionally maladaptive direction, leading the FM brain more responsive to external stimuli and potentially contributing to pain amplification.

Altered Functional Connectivity Patterns of Parietal Subregions Contribute to Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients with White Matter Hyperintensities

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Qiang Wei ◽  
Shanshan Cao ◽  
Yang Ji ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Chen Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
White Matter Hyperintensities ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Small Vessel Disease ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Cingulate Gyrus ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Gyrus ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity

Background: The white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are considered as one of the core neuroimaging findings of cerebral small vessel disease and independently associated with cognitive deficit. The parietal lobe is a heterogeneous area containing many subregions and play an important role in the processes of neurocognition. Objective: To explore the relationship between parietal subregions alterations and cognitive impairments in WHMs. Methods: Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses of parietal subregions were performed in 104 right-handed WMHs patients divided into mild (n = 39), moderate (n = 37), and severe WMHs (n = 28) groups according to the Fazekas scale and 36 healthy controls. Parietal subregions were defined using tractographic Human Brainnetome Atlas and included five subregions for superior parietal lobe, six subregions for inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and three subregions for precuneus. All participants underwent a neuropsychological test battery to evaluate emotional and general cognitive functions. Results: Differences existed between the rs-FC strength of IPL_R_6_2 with the left anterior cingulate gyrus, IPL_R_6_3 with the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, and the IPL_R_6_5 with the left anterior cingulate gyrus. The connectivity strength between IPL_R_6_3 and the left anterior cingulate gyrus were correlated with AVLT-immediate and AVLT-recognition test in WMHs. Conclusion: We explored the roles of parietal subregions in WMHs using rs-FC. The functional connectivity of parietal subregions with the cortex regions showed significant differences between the patients with WMHs and healthy controls which may be associated with cognitive deficits in WMHs.

scholarly journals Dynamic Interhemispheric Desynchronization in Marmosets and Humans With Disorders of the Corpus Callosum

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Szczupak ◽  
Cecil C. Yen ◽  
Cirong Liu ◽  
Xiaoguang Tian ◽  
Roberto Lent ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Periodic Patterns ◽  
Lower Strength ◽  
Neuronal Communication ◽  
Clear Explanation

The corpus callosum, the principal structural avenue for interhemispheric neuronal communication, controls the brain’s lateralization. Developmental malformations of the corpus callosum (CCD) can lead to learning and intellectual disabilities. Currently, there is no clear explanation for these symptoms. Here, we used resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) to evaluate the dynamic resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in both the cingulate cortex (CG) and the sensory areas (S1, S2, A1) in three marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) with spontaneous CCD. We also performed rsfMRI in 10 CCD human subjects (six hypoplasic and four agenesic). We observed no differences in the strength of rsFC between homotopic CG and sensory areas in both species when comparing them to healthy controls. However, in CCD marmosets, we found lower strength of quasi-periodic patterns (QPP) correlation in the posterior interhemispheric sensory areas. We also found a significant lag of interhemispheric communication in the medial CG, suggesting asynchrony between the two hemispheres. Correspondingly, in human subjects, we found that the CG of acallosal subjects had a higher QPP correlation than controls. In comparison, hypoplasic subjects had a lower QPP correlation and a delay of 1.6 s in the sensory regions. These results show that CCD affects the interhemispheric synchrony of both CG and sensory areas and that, in both species, its impact on cortical communication varies along the CC development gradient. Our study shines a light on how CCD misconnects homotopic regions and opens a line of research to explain the causes of the symptoms exhibited by CCD patients and how to mitigate them.

High-Order Functional Connectivity Network for Differential Diagnosis of Depression

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1095-1102
Author(s):  
Jian Yang ◽  
Xu Mao ◽  
Ning Liu ◽  
Ning Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Differential Diagnosis ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Correlation Time ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
High Order ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity

Resting-state functional connectivity (FC) changes dynamically and major depressive disorder (MDD) has abnormality in functional connectivity networks (FCNs), but few existing resting-state fMRI study on MDD utilizes the dynamics, especially for identifying depressive individuals from healthy controls. In this paper, we propose a methodological procedure for differential diagnosis of depression, called HN3D, which is based on high-order functional connectivity networks (HFCN). Firstly, HN3D extracts time series by independent component analysis, and partitions them into overlapped short series by sliding time window. Secondly, it constructs a FCN for each time window and concatenates correlation matrices of all FCNs to generate correlation time series. Then, correlation time series are grouped into different clusters and high-order correlations for HFCN is calculated based on their means. Finally, graph based features of HFCNs are extracted and selected for a linear discriminative classifier. Tested on 21 healthy controls and 20 MDD patients, HN3D achieved its best 100% classification accuracy, which is much higher than results based on stationary FCNs. In addition, most discriminative components of HN3D locate in default mode network and visual network, which are consistent with existing stationary-based results on depression. Though HN3D needs to be studied further, it is helpful for the differential diagnosis of depression and might have potentiality in identifying relevant biomarkers.

Structural and functional changes in the somatosensory cortex in euthymic females with bipolar disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (11) ◽  
pp. 1075-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Minuzzi ◽  
Sabrina K Syan ◽  
Mara Smith ◽  
Alexander Hall ◽  
Geoffrey BC Hall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Voxel Based Morphometry ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Morphometry Analysis ◽  
And Function

Objective: Current evidence from neuroimaging data suggests possible dysfunction of the fronto-striatal-limbic circuits in individuals with bipolar disorder. Somatosensory cortical function has been implicated in emotional recognition, risk-taking and affective responses through sensory modalities. This study investigates anatomy and function of the somatosensory cortex in euthymic bipolar women. Methods: In total, 68 right-handed euthymic women (bipolar disorder = 32 and healthy controls = 36) between 16 and 45 years of age underwent high-resolution anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging during the mid-follicular menstrual phase. The somatosensory cortex was used as a seed region for resting-state functional connectivity analysis. Voxel-based morphometry was used to evaluate somatosensory cortical gray matter volume between groups. Results: We found increased resting-state functional connectivity between the somatosensory cortex and insular cortex, inferior prefrontal gyrus and frontal orbital cortex in euthymic bipolar disorder subjects compared to healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry analysis showed decreased gray matter in the left somatosensory cortex in the bipolar disorder group. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis controlled by age did not reveal any additional significant difference between groups. Conclusion: This study is the first to date to evaluate anatomy and function of the somatosensory cortex in a well-characterized sample of euthymic bipolar disorder females. Anatomical and functional changes in the somatosensory cortex in this population might contribute to the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder.

scholarly journals Limbic links to paranoia: increased resting-state functional connectivity between amygdala, hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex in schizophrenia patients with paranoia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Walther ◽  
Stephanie Lefebvre ◽  
Frauke Conring ◽  
Nicole Gangl ◽  
Niluja Nadesalingam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Paranoid Ideation ◽  
Syndrome Scale ◽  
Mri Scans

AbstractParanoia is a frequent and highly distressing experience in psychosis. Models of paranoia suggest limbic circuit pathology. Here, we tested whether resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fc) in the limbic circuit was altered in schizophrenia patients with current paranoia. We collected MRI scans in 165 subjects including 89 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform disorder) and 76 healthy controls. Paranoia was assessed using a Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale composite score. We tested rs-fc between bilateral nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex between groups and as a function of paranoia severity. Patients with paranoia had increased connectivity between hippocampus and amygdala compared to patients without paranoia. Likewise, paranoia severity was linked to increased connectivity between hippocampus and amygdala. Furthermore, paranoia was associated with increased connectivity between orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortex. In addition, patients with paranoia had increased functional connectivity within the frontal hubs of the default mode network compared to healthy controls. These results demonstrate that current paranoia is linked to aberrant connectivity within the core limbic circuit and prefrontal cortex reflecting amplified threat processing and impaired emotion regulation. Future studies will need to explore the association between limbic hyperactivity, paranoid ideation and perceived stress.

The impact of childhood trauma on thalamic functional connectivity in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Minyi Chu ◽  
Tingting Xu ◽  
Yi Wang ◽  
Pei Wang ◽  
Qiumeng Gu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Childhood Trauma ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Predisposing Factor ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Childhood trauma is a vulnerability factor for the development of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Empirical findings suggest that trauma-related alterations in brain networks, especially in thalamus-related regions, have been observed in OCD patients. However, the relationship between childhood trauma and thalamic connectivity in patients with OCD remains unclear. The present study aimed to examine the impact of childhood trauma on thalamic functional connectivity in OCD patients. Methods Magnetic resonance imaging resting-state scans were acquired in 79 patients with OCD, including 22 patients with a high level of childhood trauma (OCD_HCT), 57 patients with a low level of childhood trauma (OCD_LCT) and 47 healthy controls. Seven thalamic subdivisions were chosen as regions of interest (ROIs) to examine the group difference in thalamic ROIs and whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). Results We found significantly decreased caudate-thalamic rsFC in OCD patients as a whole group and also in OCD_LCT patients, compared with healthy controls. However, OCD_HCT patients exhibited increased thalamic rsFC with the prefrontal cortex when compared with both OCD_LCT patients and healthy controls. Conclusions Taken together, OCD patients with high and low levels of childhood trauma exhibit different pathological alterations in thalamic rsFC, suggesting that childhood trauma may be a predisposing factor for some OCD patients.

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