Interictal photosensitivity associates with altered brain structure in patients with episodic migraine

Cephalalgia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 526-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine D Chong ◽  
Amaal J Starling ◽  
Todd J Schwedt
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Light Sensitivity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Episodic Migraine ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
The Right ◽  
Episodic Migraineurs ◽  
Assessment Questionnaire

Background Migraine attacks manifest with hypersensitivities to light, sound, touch and odor. Some people with migraine have photosensitivity between migraine attacks, suggesting persistent alterations in the integrity of brain regions that process light. Although functional neuroimaging studies have shown visual stimulus induced “hyperactivation” of visual cortex regions in migraineurs between attacks, whether photosensitivity is associated with alterations in brain structure is unknown. Methods Levels of photosensitivity were evaluated using the Photosensitivity Assessment Questionnaire in 48 interictal migraineurs and 48 healthy controls. Vertex-by-vertex measurements of cortical thickness were assessed in 28 people with episodic migraine who had interictal photosensitivity (mean age = 35.0 years, SD = 12.1) and 20 episodic migraine patients without symptoms of interictal photosensitivity (mean age = 36.0 years, SD = 11.4) using a general linear model design. Results Migraineurs have greater levels of interictal photosensitivity relative to healthy controls. Relative to migraineurs without interictal photosensitivity, migraineurs with interictal photosensitivity have thicker cortex in several brain areas including the right lingual, isthmus cingulate and pericalcarine regions, and the left precentral, postcentral and supramarginal regions. Conclusion Episodic migraineurs with interictal photosensitivity have greater cortical thickness in the right parietal-occipital and left fronto-parietal regions, suggesting that persistent light sensitivity is associated with underlying structural alterations.

scholarly journals Widespread Cortical Thickness Reductions Following Non-medical Use of Ketamine: a Structural MRI Study of Individuals with Ketamine Dependence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinsong Tang ◽  
Qiuxia Wu ◽  
Chang Qi ◽  
An Xie ◽  
Jianbin Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
P Value ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Brain Images ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Mri Study

AbstractBackgroundA version of ketamine, called Esketamine has been approved for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Ketamine (“K powder”), a “dissociative” anesthetic agent, however, has been used non-medically alone or with other illicit substances. Our previous studies showed a link between non-medical ketamine use and brain structural and functional alterations. We found dorsal prefrontal gray matter reduction in chronic ketamine users. It is unknown, however, whether these observations might parallel findings of cortical thickness alterations. This study aimed at exploring cortical thickness abnormalities following non-medical, long-term use of ketamine.MethodsStructural brain images were acquired for 95 patients with ketamine dependence, and 169 drug-free healthy controls. FreeSurfer software was used to measure cortical thickness for 68 brain regions. Cortical thickness was compared between the two groups using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with covariates of age, gender, educational level, smoking, drinking, and whole brain mean cortical thickness. Results were considered significant if the Bonferroni corrected P-value < 0.01.ResultsCompared to healthy controls, patients with ketamine dependence have widespread decreased cortical thickness, with the most extensive reductions in the frontal (including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC) and parietal (including the precuneus) lobes. Increased cortical thickness was not observed in ketamine users relative to comparison subjects. Estimated total lifetime ketamine consumption is correlated with the right inferior parietal and the right rostral middle frontal cortical thickness reductions.ConclusionsThis study provides first evidence that, compared with healthy controls, chronic ketamine users had cortical thickness reductions.

scholarly journals Cortical thickness and surface area correlates with cognitive dysfunction among first-episode psychosis patients

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 2145-2155 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Haring ◽  
A. Müürsepp ◽  
R. Mõttus ◽  
P. Ilves ◽  
K. Koch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structure Function ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Brain Mri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
First Episode Psychosis ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Neurocognitive Performance ◽  
Episode Psychosis

BackgroundIn studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), some have reported specific brain structure–function relationships among first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients, but findings are inconsistent. We aimed to localize the brain regions where cortical thickness (CTh) and surface area (cortical area; CA) relate to neurocognition, by performing an MRI on participants and measuring their neurocognitive performance using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), in order to investigate any significant differences between FEP patients and control subjects (CS).MethodExploration of potential correlations between specific cognitive functions and brain structure was performed using CANTAB computer-based neurocognitive testing and a vertex-by-vertex whole-brain MRI analysis of 63 FEP patients and 30 CS.ResultsSignificant correlations were found between cortical parameters in the frontal, temporal, cingular and occipital brain regions and performance in set-shifting, working memory manipulation, strategy usage and sustained attention tests. These correlations were significantly dissimilar between FEP patients and CS.ConclusionsSignificant correlations between CTh and CA with neurocognitive performance were localized in brain areas known to be involved in cognition. The results also suggested a disrupted structure–function relationship in FEP patients compared with CS.

scholarly journals “No Pain No Gain”: Evidence from a Parcel-Wise Brain Morphometry Study on the Volitional Quality of Elite Athletes

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaoxia Wei ◽  
Ruoguang Si ◽  
Youfa Li ◽  
Ying Yao ◽  
Lizhen Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Elite Athletes ◽  
National Level ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobe ◽  
Brain Morphometry ◽  
Volitional Behavior

Volition is described as a psychological construct with great emphasis on the sense of agency. During volitional behavior, an individual always presents a volitional quality, an intrapersonal trait for dealing with adverse circumstances, which determines the individual’s persistence of action toward their intentions or goals. Elite athletes are a group of experts with superior volitional quality and, thereby, could be regarded as the natural subject pool to investigate this mental trait. The purpose of this study was to examine brain morphometric characteristics associated with volitional quality by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the Scale of Volitional Quality. We recruited 16 national-level athletes engaged in short track speed skating and 18 healthy controls matched with age and gender. A comparison of a parcel-wise brain anatomical characteristics of the healthy controls with those of the elite athletes revealed three regions with significantly increased cortical thickness in the athlete group. These regions included the left precuneus, the left inferior parietal lobe, and the right superior frontal lobe, which are the core brain regions involved in the sense of agency. The mean cortical thickness of the left inferior parietal lobe was significantly correlated with the independence of volitional quality (a mental trait that characterizes one’s intendency to control his/her own behavior and make decisions by applying internal standards and/or objective criteria). These findings suggest that sports training is an ideal model for better understanding the neural mechanisms of volitional behavior in the human brain.

Altered brain network centrality in patients with trigeminal neuralgia: a resting-state fMRI study

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Wen Zhu ◽  
You Chen ◽  
Ying-Xin Gong ◽  
Nan Jiang ◽  
Wen-Feng Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trigeminal Neuralgia ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Degree Centrality ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Postcentral Gyrus ◽  
The Right

Background Neuroimaging studies revealed that trigeminal neuralgia was related to alternations in brain anatomical function and regional function. However, the functional characteristics of network organization in the whole brain is unknown. Purpose The aim of the present study was to analyze potential functional network brain-activity changes and their relationships with clinical features in patients with trigeminal neuralgia via the voxel-wise degree centrality method. Material and Methods This study involved a total of 28 trigeminal neuralgia patients (12 men, 16 women) and 28 healthy controls matched in sex, age, and education. Spontaneous brain activity was evaluated by degree centrality. Correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations between behavioral performance and average degree centrality values in several brain regions. Results Compared with healthy controls, trigeminal neuralgia patients had significantly higher degree centrality values in the right lingual gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, left paracentral lobule, and bilateral inferior cerebellum. Receiver operative characteristic curve analysis of each brain region confirmed excellent accuracy of the areas under the curve. There was a positive correlation between the mean degree centrality value of the right postcentral gyrus and VAS score (r = 0.885, P < 0.001). Conclusions Trigeminal neuralgia causes abnormal brain network activity in multiple brain regions, which may be related to underlying disease mechanisms.

scholarly journals Relationships between Brain Structure and Metabolic Changes in Schizophrenia Patients Treated with Olanzapine: A Voxel-Based Morphometric Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve Letourneau ◽  
Lahcen Ait Bentaleb ◽  
Benjamin Stip ◽  
David Luck ◽  
Emmanuel Stip
Keyword(s):  
Brain Structure ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Examination ◽  
Morphometric Study ◽  
Metabolic Disturbances ◽  
Cerebral Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Second Generation Antipsychotics ◽  
Frontal Operculum ◽  
The Right

Introduction. Second-generation antipsychotics treatment is associated with weight gain and metabolic disturbances. Although much research has been done on the topic, the precise mechanisms underlying such side effects are still not well understood.Method. We followed over 16 weeks a group of 17 schizophrenia patients who were treated with olanzapine and monitored biometric, clinical, and metabolic data, including ghrelin and leptin levels. All patients had a structural cerebral magnetic resonance imaging examination during the first week of their followup and at the end of the study.Results. We found positive and negative significant correlations between grey matter volumes of several brain regions and variations of body weight as well as of ghrelin and leptin levels. The right frontal operculum, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral hippocampal regions were found to be significantly associated with those changes.Conclusion. Our results suggest associations between brain structure and metabolic variations in schizophrenia patients taking olanzapine.

scholarly journals Altered Intra- and Interregional Synchronization in Resting-State Cerebral Networks Associated with Chronic Tinnitus

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Chen Chen ◽  
Jian Zhang ◽  
Xiao-Wei Li ◽  
Wenqing Xia ◽  
Xu Feng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Chronic Tinnitus ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Tinnitus Distress ◽  
The Right

Objective. Subjective tinnitus is hypothesized to arise from aberrant neural activity; however, its neural bases are poorly understood. To identify aberrant neural networks involved in chronic tinnitus, we compared the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) patterns of tinnitus patients and healthy controls.Materials and Methods. Resting-state fMRI measurements were obtained from a group of chronic tinnitus patients (n=29) with normal hearing and well-matched healthy controls (n=30). Regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis and functional connectivity analysis were used to identify abnormal brain activity; these abnormalities were compared to tinnitus distress.Results. Relative to healthy controls, tinnitus patients had significant greater ReHo values in several brain regions including the bilateral anterior insula (AI), left inferior frontal gyrus, and right supramarginal gyrus. Furthermore, the left AI showed enhanced functional connectivity with the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), while the right AI had enhanced functional connectivity with the right MFG; these measures were positively correlated with Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaires (r=0.459,P=0.012andr=0.479,P=0.009, resp.).Conclusions. Chronic tinnitus patients showed abnormal intra- and interregional synchronization in several resting-state cerebral networks; these abnormalities were correlated with clinical tinnitus distress. These results suggest that tinnitus distress is exacerbated by attention networks that focus on internally generated phantom sounds.

scholarly journals Building memories on prior knowledge: behavioral and fMRI evidence of impairment in early Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Yves Jonin ◽  
Quentin Duché ◽  
Elise Bannier ◽  
Isabelle Corouge ◽  
Jean-Christophe Ferré ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
List Type ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Experimental Knowledge ◽  
Healthy Elderly ◽  
The Right

AbstractImpaired memory is a hallmark of prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Prior knowledge associated with the memoranda has proved to have a powerful effect on memory in healthy subjects. Yet, barely nothing is known about its effect in early AD. We used functional MRI to ask whether prior knowledge enhanced memory encoding in early AD and whether the nature of prior knowledge mattered. Early AD patients and healthy controls underwent a task-based fMRI experiment, being scanned while learning face-scene associations. Famous faces carried Pre-Experimental Knowledge (PEK) while unknown faces repeatedly familiarized prior to learning carried Experimental Knowledge (EK). As expected, PEK increased subsequent memory in healthy elderly. However, patients did not benefit from PEK. Partly non-overlapping brain networks supported PEK vs. EK encoding in healthy controls. Patients displayed impaired activation in a right subhippocampal region where activity predicted successful associative memory formation of PEK stimuli. These findings call for a thorough consideration of how prior knowledge impacts learning and suggest a possible underestimation of the extent of associative memory impairment in early AD.HighlightsLearning is impaired in prodromal AD, but we currently ignore whether prior knowledge available at encoding promotes learning in AD as it does in healthy controls.Patients with AD failed to benefit from pre-experimental prior knowledge (famous faces) by comparison with experimental knowledge (unknown but familiarized faces).fMRI responses at study revealed distinct networks underlying associative encoding for both pre-experimental and experimental knowledge.A subsequent memory effect found in control subjects for associations carrying pre-experimental knowledge in the right subhippocampal structures, including the perirhinal cortex, was absent in patients.Pre-experimental knowledge-based associative encoding relies on brain regions specifically targeted by early tau pathology.Using unfamiliar materials to probe memory in early AD might underestimate learning impairment.

scholarly journals Altered Topological Properties of Grey Matter Structural Covariance Networks in Complete Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury Patients: A Graph Theoretical Network Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Wen-Li Wang ◽  
Yu-Lin Li ◽  
Mou-Xiong Zheng ◽  
Xu-Yun Hua ◽  
Jia-Jia Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grey Matter ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Structural Covariance ◽  
Clinical Variables ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Network Properties ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right

Purpose. This study is aimed at investigating brain structural changes and structural network properties in complete spinal cord injury (SCI) patients, as well as their relationship with clinical variables. Materials and Methods. Structural MRI of brain was acquired in 24 complete thoracic SCI patients ( 38.50 ± 11.19 years, 22 males) within the first postinjury year, while 26 age- and gender-matched healthy participants ( 38.38 ± 10.63 years, 24 males) were enrolled as control. The voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach and graph theoretical network analysis based on cross-subject grey matter volume- (GMV-) based structural covariance networks (SCNs) were conducted to investigate the impact of SCI on brain structure. Partial correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationship between the GMV of structurally changed brain regions and SCI patients’ clinical variables, including injury duration, injury level, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS), International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) scale, Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), after removing the effects of age and gender. Results. Compared with healthy controls, SCI patients showed higher SDS score ( t = 4.392 and p < 0.001 ). In the VBM analysis, significant GMV reduction was found in the left middle frontal cortex, right superior orbital frontal cortex (OFC), and left inferior OFC. No significant difference was found in global network properties between SCI patients and healthy controls. In the regional network properties, significantly higher betweenness centrality (BC) was noted in the right anterior cingulum cortex (ACC) and left inferior OFC and higher nodal degree and efficiency in bilateral middle OFCs, while decreased BC was noted in the right putamen in SCI patients. Only negative correlation was found between GMV of right middle OFC and SDS score in SCI patients ( r = − 0.503 and p = 0.017 ), while no significant correlation between other abnormal brain regions and any of the clinical variables (all p > 0.05 ). Conclusions. SCI patients would experience depressive and/or anxious feelings at the early stage. Their GMV reduction mainly involved psychology-cognition related rather than sensorimotor brain regions. The efficiency of regional information transmission in psychology-cognition regions increased. Greater GMV reduction in psychology region was related with more severe depressive feelings. Therefore, early neuropsychological intervention is suggested to prevent psychological and cognitive dysfunction as well as irreversible brain structure damage.

Abnormal cerebellar functional MRI connectivity in patients with paediatric multiple sclerosis

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Cirillo ◽  
Maria A Rocca ◽  
Angelo Ghezzi ◽  
Paola Valsasina ◽  
Lucia Moiola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Duration ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Lesion Volume ◽  
Seed Region ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Focal Lesions ◽  
Caudate Nuclei ◽  
The Right

Objectives: We investigated resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the cerebellar dentate nuclei in paediatric MS patients and its correlations with clinical, neuropsychological and structural MRI measures. Methods: RSFC analysis was performed using a seed-region correlation approach and SPM8 from 48 paediatric MS patients and 27 matched healthy controls. Results: In both groups, dentate nuclei RSFC was significantly correlated with RSFC of several cerebellar and extra-cerebellar brain regions. Compared with healthy controls, paediatric MS patients had reduced RSFC between the right dentate nuclei and the bilateral caudate nuclei and left thalamus as well as increased RSFC between the right dentate nuclei and the left precentral and postcentral gyri. Cognitively impaired patients showed a reduced RSFC between the dentate nuclei and bilateral regions located in the parietal, frontal and temporal lobes. Decreased RSFC was correlated with longer disease duration and higher T2 lesion volumes, whereas increased RSFC correlated with shorter disease duration, lower T2 lesion volume and a better motor performance. Conclusions: Modifications of cerebellar RSFC occur in paediatric MS and are influenced by the duration of the disease and brain focal lesions. Decreased RSFC may reflect early maladaptive plasticity contributing to cognitive impairment.

scholarly journals Brain Structural Covariance Networks in Behavioral Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 192
Author(s):  
Salvatore Nigro ◽  
Benedetta Tafuri ◽  
Daniele Urso ◽  
Roberto De Blasi ◽  
Maria Elisa Frisullo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Small World ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Graph Properties

Recent research on behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) has shown that personality changes and executive dysfunctions are accompanied by a disease-specific anatomical pattern of cortical and subcortical atrophy. We investigated the structural topological network changes in patients with bvFTD in comparison to healthy controls. In particular, 25 bvFTD patients and 20 healthy controls underwent structural 3T MRI. Next, bilaterally averaged values of 34 cortical surface areas, 34 cortical thickness values, and six subcortical volumes were used to capture single-subject anatomical connectivity and investigate network organization using a graph theory approach. Relative to controls, bvFTD patients showed altered small-world properties and decreased global efficiency, suggesting a reduced ability to combine specialized information from distributed brain regions. At a local level, patients with bvFTD displayed lower values of local efficiency in the cortical thickness of the caudal and rostral middle frontal gyrus, rostral anterior cingulate, and precuneus, cuneus, and transverse temporal gyrus. A significant correlation was also found between the efficiency of caudal anterior cingulate thickness and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores in bvFTD patients. Taken together, these findings confirm the selective disruption in structural brain networks of bvFTD patients, providing new insights on the association between cognitive decline and graph properties.

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