Dysbalanced Resting-State Functional Connectivity Within the Praxis Network Is Linked to Gesture Deficits in Schizophrenia

Abstract Patients with schizophrenia frequently present deficits in gesture production and interpretation, greatly affecting their communication skills. As these gesture deficits can be found early in the course of illness and as they can predict later outcomes, exploring their neural basis may lead to a better understanding of schizophrenia. While gesturing has been reported to rely on a left lateralized network of brain regions, termed praxis network, in healthy subjects and lesioned patients, studies in patients with schizophrenia are sparse. It is currently unclear whether within-network connectivity at rest is linked to gesture deficit. Here, we compared the functional connectivity between regions of the praxis network at rest between 46 patients and 44 healthy controls. All participants completed a validated test of hand gesture performance before resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired. Patients performed gestures poorer than controls in all categories and domains. In patients, we also found significantly higher resting-state functional connectivity between left precentral gyrus and bilateral superior and inferior parietal lobule. Likewise, patients had higher connectivity from right precentral gyrus to left inferior and bilateral superior parietal lobule (SPL). In contrast, they exhibited lower connectivity between bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG). Connectivity between right precentral gyrus and left SPL, as well as connectivity between bilateral STG, correlated with gesture performance in healthy controls. We failed to detect similar correlations in patients. We suggest that altered resting-state functional connectivity within the praxis network perturbs correct gesture planning in patients, reflecting the gesture deficit often seen in schizophrenia.

Download Full-text

Sex-specific differences in resting-state functional connectivity of large-scale networks in postconcussion syndrome

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-77137-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Reema Shafi ◽

Adrian P. Crawley ◽

Maria Carmela Tartaglia ◽

Charles H. Tator ◽

Robin E. Green ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Large Scale ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Postconcussion Syndrome ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Post Injury ◽

Network Nodes ◽

Specific Impact

AbstractConcussions are associated with a range of cognitive, neuropsychological and behavioral sequelae that, at times, persist beyond typical recovery times and are referred to as postconcussion syndrome (PCS). There is growing support that concussion can disrupt network-based connectivity post-injury. To date, a significant knowledge gap remains regarding the sex-specific impact of concussion on resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC). The aims of this study were to (1) investigate the injury-based rs-FC differences across three large-scale neural networks and (2) explore the sex-specific impact of injury on network-based connectivity. MRI data was collected from a sample of 80 concussed participants who fulfilled the criteria for postconcussion syndrome and 31 control participants who did not have any history of concussion. Connectivity maps between network nodes and brain regions were used to assess connectivity using the Functional Connectivity (CONN) toolbox. Network based statistics showed that concussed participants were significantly different from healthy controls across both salience and fronto-parietal network nodes. More specifically, distinct subnetwork components were identified in the concussed sample, with hyperconnected frontal nodes and hypoconnected posterior nodes across both the salience and fronto-parietal networks, when compared to the healthy controls. Node-to-region analyses showed sex-specific differences across association cortices, however, driven by distinct networks. Sex-specific network-based alterations in rs-FC post concussion need to be examined to better understand the underlying mechanisms and associations to clinical outcomes.

Download Full-text

Parietal and hippocampal hyper-connectivity is associated with low math achievement in adolescence

10.31234/osf.io/tzd3w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Roberto A. Abreu-Mendoza ◽

Melanie Pincus ◽

Yaira Chamorro ◽

Dietsje Jolles ◽

Esmeralda Matute ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Math Achievement ◽

Resting State Fmri ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Math Performance ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Math Ability ◽

Control Seed

Mathematical cognition requires coordinated activity across multiple brain regions, leading to the emergence of resting-state functional connectivity as a method for studying the neural basis of differences in mathematical achievement. Hyper-connectivity of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), a key locus of mathematical and numerical processing, has been associated with poor mathematical skills in childhood, whereas greater connectivity has been related to better performance in adulthood. No studies to date have considered its role in adolescence. Further, hippocampal connectivity can predict mathematical learning, yet no studies have considered its contributions to contemporaneous measures of math achievement. Here, we used seed-based resting-state fMRI analyses to examine IPS and hippocampal intrinsic functional connectivity relations to math achievement in a group of 31 adolescents (mean age=16.42 years, range 15-17), whose math performance spanned the 1% to 99% percentile. After controlling for IQ, IPS connectivity was negatively related to math achievement, akin to findings in children. However, the specific temporooccipital regions, were more akin to the posterior loci implicated in adults. Hippocampal connectivity with frontal regions was also negatively correlated with concurrent math measures, which contrasts with results from learning studies. Finally, hyper-connectivity was not a global feature of low math performance, as connectivity of Heschl’s gyrus, a control seed not involved in math cognition, was not modulated by math performance. Together, our results point to adolescence as a transitional stage in which patterns found in childhood and adulthood can be observed; most notably, hyper-connectivity continues to be related to low math ability in this period.

Download Full-text

Altered Temporal Variability of Local and Large-scale Resting-state Brain Functional Connectivity Patterns in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

10.1101/2020.02.04.934638 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yicheng Long ◽

Zhening Liu ◽

Calais Kin-yuen Chan ◽

Guowei Wu ◽

Zhimin Xue ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Clinical Features ◽

Resting State ◽

Large Scale ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Type I ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Brain Functional Connectivity

AbstractSchizophrenia and bipolar disorder share some common clinical features and are both characterized by aberrant resting-state functional connectivity (FC). However, little is known about the common and specific aberrant features of the dynamic FC patterns in these two disorders. In this study, we explored the differences in dynamic FC among schizophrenia patients (n = 66), type I bipolar disorder patients (n = 53) and healthy controls (n = 66), by comparing temporal variabilities of FC patterns involved in specific brain regions and large-scale brain networks. Compared with healthy controls, both patient groups showed significantly increased regional FC variabilities in subcortical areas including the thalamus and basal ganglia, as well as increased inter-network FC variability between the thalamus and sensorimotor areas. Specifically, more widespread changes were found in the schizophrenia group, involving increased FC variabilities in sensorimotor, visual, attention, limbic and subcortical areas at both regional and network levels, as well as decreased regional FC variabilities in the default-mode areas. The observed alterations shared by schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may help to explain their overlapped clinical features; meanwhile, the schizophrenia-specific abnormalities in a wider range may support that schizophrenia is associated with more severe functional brain deficits than bipolar disorder.

Download Full-text

Insulin Resistance-Associated Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity Alterations in T2DM: A Resting-State fMRI Study

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2015/719076 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Wenqing Xia ◽

Shaohua Wang ◽

Andrea M. Spaeth ◽

Hengyi Rao ◽

Pin Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Insulin Resistance ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Resting State Fmri ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Model Assessment ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity

We aim to investigate whether decreased interhemispheric functional connectivity exists in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). In addition, we sought to determine whether interhemispheric functional connectivity deficits associated with cognition and insulin resistance (IR) among T2DM patients. We compared the interhemispheric resting state functional connectivity of 32 T2DM patients and 30 healthy controls using rs-fMRI. Partial correlation coefficients were used to detect the relationship between rs-fMRI information and cognitive or clinical data. Compared with healthy controls, T2DM patients showed bidirectional alteration of functional connectivity in several brain regions. Functional connectivity values in the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and in the superior frontal gyrus were inversely correlated with Trail Making Test-B score of patients. Notably, insulin resistance (log homeostasis model assessment-IR) negatively correlated with functional connectivity in the MTG of patients. In conclusion, T2DM patients exhibit abnormal interhemispheric functional connectivity in several default mode network regions, particularly in the MTG, and such alteration is associated with IR. Alterations in interhemispheric functional connectivity might contribute to cognitive dysfunction in T2DM patients.

Download Full-text

Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity Patterns and Functional Connectivity in Adults With Intermittent Exotropia: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.746882 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Xueying He ◽

Jie Hong ◽

Qian Wang ◽

Yanan Guo ◽

Ting Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Intermittent Exotropia ◽

Parietal Lobule ◽

The Right ◽

Left Middle

The purpose of this study is to investigate brain functional changes in patients with intermittent exotropia (IXT) by analyzing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) of brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). There were 26 IXT patients and 22 age-, sex-, education-, and handedness-matched healthy controls (HCs) enrolled who underwent rs-fMRI. The ALFF, fractional ALFF (fALFF) values in the slow 4 and slow 5 bands, and FC values were calculated and compared. The correlations between ALFF/fALFF values in discrepant brain regions and clinical features were evaluated. Compared with HCs, ALFF/fALFF values were significantly increased in the right angular gyrus (ANG), supramarginal gyrus (SMG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), precentral gyrus (PreCG), and the bilateral inferior frontal gyri (IFG), and decreased in the right precuneus gyrus (PCUN), left middle occipital gyrus (MOG), and postcentral gyrus (PoCG) in IXT patients. The Newcastle Control Test score was negatively correlated with ALFF values in the right IFG (r = −0.738, p < 0.001). The duration of IXT was negatively correlated with ALFF values in the right ANG (r = −0.457, p = 0.049). Widespread increases in FC were observed between brain regions, mainly including the right cuneus (CUN), left superior parietal lobule (SPL), right rolandic operculum (ROL), left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), left IFG, left median cingulate gyrus (DCG), left PoCG, right PreCG, and left paracentral gyrus (PCL) in patients with IXT. No decreased FC was observed. Patients with IXT exhibited aberrant intrinsic brain activities and FC in vision- and eye movement-related brain regions, which extend current understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms underlying visual and oculomotor impairments in IXT patients.

Download Full-text

Pathologic tearfulness after limbic encephalitis

Neurology ◽

10.1212/wnl.0000000000008934 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 94 (12) ◽

pp. e1320-e1335 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Georgios P.D. Argyropoulos ◽

Lauren Moore ◽

Clare Loane ◽

Adriana Roca-Fernandez ◽

Carmen Lage-Martinez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Limbic Encephalitis ◽

Executive Dysfunction ◽

Fusiform Gyrus ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Patient Reported

ObjectiveWe investigated the nature and neural foundations of pathologic tearfulness in a uniquely large cohort of patients who had presented with autoimmune limbic encephalitis (aLE).MethodsWe recruited 38 patients (26 men, 12 women; median age 63.06 years; interquartile range [IQR] 16.06 years) in the postacute phase of aLE who completed questionnaires probing emotion regulation. All patients underwent structural/functional MRI postacutely, along with 67 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (40 men, 27 women; median age 64.70 years; IQR 19.87 years). We investigated correlations of questionnaire scores with demographic, clinical, neuropsychological, and brain imaging data across patients. We also compared patients diagnosed with pathologic tearfulness and those without, along with healthy controls, on gray matter volume, resting-state functional connectivity, and activity.ResultsPathologic tearfulness was reported by 50% of the patients, while no patient reported pathologic laughing. It was not associated with depression, impulsiveness, memory impairment, executive dysfunction in the postacute phase, or amygdalar abnormalities in the acute phase. It correlated with changes in specific emotional brain networks: volume reduction in the right anterior hippocampus, left fusiform gyrus, and cerebellum, abnormal hippocampal resting-state functional connectivity with the posteromedial cortex and right middle frontal gyrus, and abnormal hemodynamic activity in the left fusiform gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, and ventral pons.ConclusionsPathologic tearfulness is common following aLE, is not a manifestation of other neuropsychiatric features, and reflects abnormalities in networks of emotion regulation beyond the acute hippocampal focus. The condition, which may also be present in other neurologic disorders, provides novel insights into the neural basis of affective control and its dysfunction in disease.

Download Full-text

The effect of congenital blindness on resting-state functional connectivity revisited

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91976-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Maria J. S. Guerreiro ◽

Madita Linke ◽

Sunitha Lingareddy ◽

Ramesh Kekunnaya ◽

Brigitte Röder

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Visual Experience ◽

Brain Regions ◽

State Condition ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Congenital Blindness ◽

Eyes Closed ◽

Congenitally Blind ◽

Eyes Open

AbstractLower resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between ‘visual’ and non-‘visual’ neural circuits has been reported as a hallmark of congenital blindness. In sighted individuals, RSFC between visual and non-visual brain regions has been shown to increase during rest with eyes closed relative to rest with eyes open. To determine the role of visual experience on the modulation of RSFC by resting state condition—as well as to evaluate the effect of resting state condition on group differences in RSFC—, we compared RSFC between visual and somatosensory/auditory regions in congenitally blind individuals (n = 9) and sighted participants (n = 9) during eyes open and eyes closed conditions. In the sighted group, we replicated the increase of RSFC between visual and non-visual areas during rest with eyes closed relative to rest with eyes open. This was not the case in the congenitally blind group, resulting in a lower RSFC between ‘visual’ and non-‘visual’ circuits relative to sighted controls only in the eyes closed condition. These results indicate that visual experience is necessary for the modulation of RSFC by resting state condition and highlight the importance of considering whether sighted controls should be tested with eyes open or closed in studies of functional brain reorganization as a consequence of blindness.

Download Full-text

Effects of long-term cocaine self-administration on brain resting-state functional connectivity in nonhuman primates

Translational Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41398-020-01101-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Stephen J. Kohut ◽

Dionyssios Mintzopoulos ◽

Brian D. Kangas ◽

Hannah Shields ◽

Kelly Brown ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Resting State ◽

Resting State Fmri ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Self Administration ◽

Chronic Cocaine

AbstractLong-term cocaine use is associated with a variety of neural and behavioral deficits that impact daily function. This study was conducted to examine the effects of chronic cocaine self-administration on resting-state functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and putamen—two brain regions involved in cognitive function and motoric behavior—identified in a whole brain analysis. Six adult male squirrel monkeys self-administered cocaine (0.32 mg/kg/inj) over 140 sessions. Six additional monkeys that had not received any drug treatment for ~1.5 years served as drug-free controls. Resting-state fMRI imaging sessions at 9.4 Tesla were conducted under isoflurane anesthesia. Functional connectivity maps were derived using seed regions placed in the left dACC or putamen. Results show that cocaine maintained robust self-administration with an average total intake of 367 mg/kg (range: 299–424 mg/kg). In the cocaine group, functional connectivity between the dACC seed and regions primarily involved in motoric behavior was weaker, whereas connectivity between the dACC seed and areas implicated in reward and cognitive processing was stronger. In the putamen seed, weaker widespread connectivity was found between the putamen and other motor regions as well as with prefrontal areas that regulate higher-order executive function; stronger connectivity was found with reward-related regions. dACC connectivity was associated with total cocaine intake. These data indicate that functional connectivity between regions involved in motor, reward, and cognitive processing differed between subjects with recent histories of cocaine self-administration and controls; in dACC, connectivity appears to be related to cumulative cocaine dosage during chronic exposure.

Download Full-text

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

Frontiers in Neural Circuits ◽

10.3389/fncir.2020.612595 ◽

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.

Download Full-text

Sex Difference in Language Processing in Patients With Malignant Brain Tumors

Neurosurgery ◽

10.1093/neuros/nyz310_507 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 66 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Shun Yao ◽

Einat Liebenthal ◽

Parikshit Juvekar ◽

Adomas Bunevicius ◽

Matthew Vera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Brain Tumors ◽

Language Processing ◽

Resting State ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Language Function ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Malignant Brain Tumors ◽

Parietal Lobule

Abstract INTRODUCTION Numerous differences between males and females in brain organization have been described including in the development, performance, and lateralization of language function. However, there is very limited knowledge of whether language processing differs across sex in patients with brain lesions. In particular, malignant brain tumors (MBT) demonstrate significant sex differences in incidence and long-term survival. Given the importance of brain organization and planning surgical treatment for patients with brain tumors, we investigated the effect of sex on the organization of language in a cohort of patients with MBT. METHODS In the current study, we carried out a retrospective analysis in 47 patients with MBT (22 females, 25 males), retrieving their clinical characteristics and task-based and resting-state functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) data from our clinical database. General Linear Model (GLM) and region-of-interest (ROI) based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analyses were applied to explore the effect of sex on language tasks associated activations and functional connectivity. RESULTS Across the Sentence Completion task and Antonym Generation task, female patients showed greater activation volumes in the left inferior frontal gyrus, right precuneus, and left superior parietal lobule, while male patients showed larger clusters of activation of the left supplemental motor area (SMA), left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), left precuneus, bilateral precentral gyrus, and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Furthermore, the left SMA was a highly sex-specific brain area during the language performance, and it showed stronger resting-state correlations with brain areas within the intrinsic language network in females, while it showed stronger resting-state connections with brain areas involving the visuomotor/higher level cognitive functions in males. CONCLUSION These findings enhance our understanding of the role of sex in language organization in patients with MBT, helping neurosurgeons assess surgical risk and plan surgery in patients with MBT to best preserve language function.

Download Full-text