The Cumulative Therapeutic Effect of Acupuncture Treatment in Patients with Migraine without Aura: Evidence from Dynamic Alterations of Intrinsic Brain Activity and Effective Connectivity Analysis

Abstract We explored the dynamic alterations of intrinsic brain activity and effective connectivity after acupuncture treatment to investigate the underlying neurological mechanism of acupuncture treatment in patients with migraine without aura (MwoA). The fMRI scans were separately obtained at baseline, after the first and after the 12th acupuncture sessions in 40 patients with MwoA. Compared with HCs, patients with MwoA showed mostly decreased dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) variability in regions with differences. After acupuncture treatment, the decreased dALFF variability of the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), the superior lobe of left cerebellum (Cerebelum_Crus1_L), and the right precuneus (PCUN.R) progressively recovered. The RVM revealed gradually increased dynamic effective connectivity (DEC) variability outflow to the right middle frontal gyrus, the left insula, the right precentral gyrus, and the right supramarginal gyrus, and enhanced DEC variability from the right fusiform gyrus inflow to RVM. Furthermore, the increased DEC variability were found from Cerebelum_Crus1_L outflow to the left middle occipital gyrus and the left precentral gyrus, from PCUN.R outflow to the right thalamus. These dALFF variabilities were positive correlated with frequency of migraine attack and negative correlated with disease duration, dynamic GCA coefficients were positive correlated with Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire score, negative correlated with frequency of migraine attack and visual analog scale score postacupuncture treatment. Our results provide insight into dynamic alterations from the perspective of dynamic local brain activity and effective connectivity for the understanding mechanisms of cumulative therapeutic effect of acupuncture in patients with MwoA.

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The Cumulative Therapeutic Effect of Acupuncture Treatment in Patients With Migraine Without Aura: Evidence From Dynamic Alterations of Intrinsic Brain Activity and Effective Connectivity Analysis

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1055422/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yilei Chen ◽

Yingjie Kang ◽

Shilei Luo ◽

Shanshan Liu ◽

Bo Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Migraine Attack ◽

Therapeutic Effect ◽

Migraine Without Aura ◽

Acupuncture Treatment ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Life Questionnaire ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

The Right ◽

Intrinsic Brain Activity

Abstract Background: The underlying neurological mechanism of acupuncture treatment in migraine without aura (MwoA) remains unclear. Therefore, we explored the dynamic alterations of intrinsic brain activity and effective connectivity in patients with MwoA after acupuncture treatment.Methods:The fMRI scans were separately obtained at baseline, after the first and after the 12th acupuncture sessions in 40 patients with MwoA. The acupuncture treatments were finished within 6 weeks as twice a week. 36 matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and performed once fMRI scan. The dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) and dynamic granger causality analysis(GCA) were used to analyze the difference of different time points in patients with MwoA. The correlation analyses were performed in dALFF variability, dynamic effective connectivity (DEC) variability with clinical variables in patients with MwoA.Results:Compared with HCs, Patients with MwoA at baseline showed decreased dALFF variability in regions within rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), the superior lobe of left cerebellum (Cerebelum_Crus1_L), the right inferior frontal gyrus, triangular part (IFGtriang.R), the right median cingulate and paracingulate gyri (DCG.R), the right precuneus (PCUN.R), and the left inferior parietal, supramarginal and angular gyri (IPL.L), increased dALFF variability only in the left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG.L). After acupuncture treatment, the decreased dALFF variability of the RVM, Cerebelum_Crus1_L , and PCUN.R progressively recovered, the RVM revealed gradually increased DEC variability to the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG.R), the left insula (INS.L), the right precentral gyrus (PreCG.R), and the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG.R). And enhanced DEC variability from the right fusiform gyrus (FFG.R) to RVM. Furthermore, the increased DEC variability were found from Cerebelum_Crus1_L to the left middle occipital gyrus (MOG.L) and the left precentral gyrus (PreCG.L), from PCUN.R to the right thalamus (THA.R). These dALFF variabilities were significantly positive correlated with frequency of migraine attack and negative correlated with disease duration at baseline, dynamic GCA coefficients were significantly positive correlated with Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MSQ) score, negative correlated with frequency of migraine attack and visual analog scale (VAS) score postacupuncture treatment.Conclusions:Our results provide insight into dynamic alterations from the perspective of dynamic local brain activity and effective connectivity for the understanding mechanisms of cumulative therapeutic effect of acupuncture in patients with MwoA.Trial registration: ChiCTR, ChiCTR1900023105. Registered 11 May 2019, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=36959.

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The effects of acupuncture treatment on the right frontoparietal network in migraine without aura patients

The Journal of Headache and Pain ◽

10.1186/s10194-015-0518-4 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Kuangshi Li ◽

Yong Zhang ◽

Yanzhe Ning ◽

Hua Zhang ◽

Hongwei Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Migraine Without Aura ◽

Acupuncture Treatment ◽

Frontoparietal Network ◽

The Right

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Altered Temporal Dynamic Intrinsic Brain Activity in Late Blindness

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2020/1913805 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xin Huang ◽

Zhi Wen ◽

Chen-Xing Qi ◽

Yan Tong ◽

Han-Dong Dan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Processing ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Gaussian Random Field ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Sliding Window ◽

Crossmodal Plasticity ◽

The Difference ◽

Structural Architecture ◽

The Right ◽

Intrinsic Brain Activity

Previous neuroimaging studies demonstrated that visual deprivation triggers significant crossmodal plasticity in the functional and structural architecture of the brain. However, prior neuroimaging studies focused on the static brain activity in blindness. It remains unknown whether alterations of dynamic intrinsic brain activity occur in late blindness (LB). This study investigated dynamic intrinsic brain activity changes in individuals with late blindness by assessing the dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (dALFFs) using sliding-window analyses. Forty-one cases of late blindness (LB) (29 males and 12 females, mean age: 39.70±12.66 years) and 48 sighted controls (SCs) (17 males and 31 females, mean age: 43.23±13.40 years) closely matched in age, sex, and education level were enrolled in this study. The dALFF with sliding-window analyses was used to compare the difference in dynamic intrinsic brain activity between the two groups. Compared with SCs, individuals with LB exhibited significantly lower dALFF values in the bilateral lingual gyrus (LING)/calcarine (CAL) and left thalamus (THA). LB cases also showed considerably decreased dFC values between the bilateral LING/CAL and the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and between the left THA and the right LING/cerebelum_6 (CER) (two-tailed, voxel-level P<0.01, Gaussian random field (GRF) correction, cluster-level P<0.05). Our study demonstrated that LB individuals showed lower-temporal variability of dALFF in the visual cortices and thalamus, suggesting lower flexibility of visual thalamocortical activity, which might reflect impaired visual processing in LB individuals. These findings indicate that abnormal dynamic intrinsic brain activity might be involved in the neurophysiological mechanisms of LB.

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Regional homogeneity of intrinsic brain activity related to the main alexithymia dimensions

General Psychiatry ◽

10.1136/gpsych-2018-000003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. e000003

Author(s):

Han Dai ◽

Li Mei ◽

Mei Minjun ◽

Sun Xiaofei

Keyword(s):

Parietal Lobe ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Occipital Lobe ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Regional Homogeneity ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Significant Group ◽

Lingual Gyrus ◽

Postcentral Gyrus ◽

Intrinsic Brain Activity

BackgroundAlexithymia is a multidimensional personality construct.ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the neuronal correlates of each alexithymia dimension by examining the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of intrinsic brain activity in a resting situation.MethodsFrom university freshmen, students with alexithymia and non-alexithymia were recruited. Their alexithymic traits were assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. The ReHo was examined using a resting-state functional MRI approach.ResultsThis study suggests significant group differences in ReHo in multiple brain regions distributed in the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and insular cortex. However, only the ReHo in the insula was positively associated with difficulty identifying feelings, a main dimension of alexithymia. The ReHo in the lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus was positively associated with difficulty describing feelings in participants with alexithymia. Lastly, the ReHo in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC_R) was negatively related to the externally oriented thinking style of participants with alexithymia.ConclusionIn conclusion, these results suggest that the main dimensions of alexithymia are correlated with specific brain regions’ function, and the role of the insula, lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus and DMPFC_R in the neuropathology of alexithymia should be further investigated.

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Atypical Antipsychotics Mediate Dynamics of Intrinsic Brain Activity in Early-Stage Schizophrenia? A Preliminary Study

Psychiatry Investigation ◽

10.30773/pi.2020.0418 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 1205-1212

Author(s):

Yingchan Wang ◽

Yuchao Jiang ◽

Dengtang Liu ◽

Jianye Zhang ◽

Dezhong Yao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Negative Symptoms ◽

Atypical Antipsychotics ◽

Early Stage ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Antipsychotic Treatment ◽

Before And After ◽

Middle Occipital Gyrus ◽

The Right ◽

Intrinsic Brain Activity

Objective Abnormalities of static brain activity have been reported in schizophrenia, but it remains to be clarified the temporal variability of intrinsic brain activities in schizophrenia and how atypical antipsychotics affect it.Methods We employed a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and a sliding-window analysis of dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) to evaluate the dynamic brain activities in schizophrenia (SZ) patients before and after 8-week antipsychotic treatment. Twenty-six schizophrenia individuals and 26 matched healthy controls (HC) were included in this study.Results Compared with HC, SZ showed stronger dALFF in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG.R) at baseline. After medication, the SZ group exhibited reduced dALFF in the right middle occipital gyrus (MOG.R) and increased dALFF in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG.L), right middle frontal gyrus (MFG.R), and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL.R). Dynamic ALFF in IPL.R was found to significant negative correlate with the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) scores at baseline.Conclusion Our results showed dynamic intrinsic brain activities altered in schizophrenia after short term antipsychotic treatment. The findings of this study support and expand the application of dALFF method in the study of the pathological mechanism in psychosis in the future.

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Common and distinct patterns of intrinsic brain activity alterations in major depression and bipolar disorder: voxel-based meta-analysis

Translational Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41398-020-01036-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jiaying Gong ◽

Junjing Wang ◽

Shaojuan Qiu ◽

Pan Chen ◽

Zhenye Luo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Major Depression ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

The Right ◽

Intrinsic Brain Activity

Abstract Identification of intrinsic brain activity differences and similarities between major depression (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) is necessary. However, results have not yet yielded consistent conclusions. A meta-analysis of whole-brain resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) studies that explored differences in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) between patients (including MDD and BD) and healthy controls (HCs) was conducted using seed-based d mapping software. Systematic literature search identified 50 studies comparing 1399 MDD patients and 1332 HCs, and 15 studies comparing 494 BD patients and 593 HCs. MDD patients displayed increased ALFF in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) (including the medial orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex [mPFC], anterior cingulate cortex [ACC]), bilateral insula extending into the striatum and left supramarginal gyrus and decreased ALFF in the bilateral cerebellum, bilateral precuneus, and left occipital cortex compared with HCs. BD showed increased ALFF in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral insula extending into the striatum, right SFG, and right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and decreased ALFF in the bilateral precuneus, left cerebellum (extending to the occipital cortex), left ACC, and left STG. In addition, MDD displayed increased ALFF in the left lingual gyrus, left ACC, bilateral precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus, and left STG and decreased ALFF in the right insula, right mPFC, right fusiform gyrus, and bilateral striatum relative to BD patients. Conjunction analysis showed increased ALFF in the bilateral insula, mPFC, and decreased ALFF in the left cerebellum in both disorders. Our comprehensive meta-analysis suggests that MDD and BD show a common pattern of aberrant regional intrinsic brain activity which predominantly includes the insula, mPFC, and cerebellum, while the limbic system and occipital cortex may be associated with spatially distinct patterns of brain function, which provide useful insights for understanding the underlying pathophysiology of brain dysfunction in affective disorders, and developing more targeted and efficacious treatment and intervention strategies.

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Altered amygdala effective connectivity in migraine without aura: evidence from resting‐state fMRI with Granger causality analysis

The Journal of Headache and Pain ◽

10.1186/s10194-021-01240-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiaobin Huang ◽

Di Zhang ◽

Peng Wang ◽

Cunnan Mao ◽

Zhengfei Miao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Granger Causality ◽

Resting State ◽

Migraine Without Aura ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽

Pain Modulation ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Causality Analysis ◽

Granger Causality Analysis

AbstractBackgroundGranger causality analysis (GCA) has been used to investigate the pathophysiology of migraine. Amygdala plays a key role in pain modulation of migraine attack. However, the detailed neuromechanism remained to be elucidated. We applied GCA to explore the amygdala-based directional effective connectivity in migraine without aura (MwoA) and to determine the relation with clinical characteristics.MethodsForty-five MwoA patients and forty age-, sex-, and years of education-matched healthy controls(HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Bilateral amygdala were used as seed regions in GCA to investigate directional effective connectivity and relation with migraine duration or attack frequency.ResultsMwoA patients showed significantly decreased effective connectivity from right amygdala to right superior temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus and right precentral gyrus compared with HCs. Furthermore, MwoA patients demonstrated significantly decreased effective connectivity from the left amygdala to the ipsilateral superior temporal gyrus. Also, MwoA patients showed enhanced effective connectivity from left inferior frontal gyrus to left amygdala. Effective connectivity outflow from right amygdala to right precentral gyrus was negatively correlated to disease duration.ConclusionsAltered directional effective connectivity of amygdala demonstrated that neurolimbic pain networks contribute to multisensory integration abnormalities and deficits in pain modulation of MwoA patients.

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Effective Connectivity Analysis of Brain Activated Regions during Distracted Driving

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11060690 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 690

Author(s):

Mi-Hyun Choi ◽

Jin-Ju Jung ◽

Je-Hyeop Lee ◽

Ye-Jin Kim ◽

Kyu-Beom Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Left Hemisphere ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Movement Control ◽

Driving Performance ◽

Causal Modeling ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Connectivity Analysis ◽

The Right

This study aims to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the effective connectivity between the regions of the brain activated when driving and performing a secondary task (addition task). The subjects used an MR-compatible driving simulator ㅊ to manipulate the driving wheel with both hands and control the pedals (accelerator and brake) with their right foot as if they were driving in an actual environment. Effective connectivity analysis was performed for three regions of the right and the left hemispheres with the highest z-scores, and six of the regions of the entire brain (right and left hemisphere) activated during driving by dynamic causal modeling (DCM). In the right hemisphere, a motor control pathway related to movement control for driving performance was discovered; in the left hemisphere, the pathways in the regions related to movement control for driving performance, starting with the region associated with the secondary task, were discovered. In the whole brain, connectivity was discovered in each of the right and left hemispheres. The motor network of declarative memory, which is the connectivity of the right thalamus, left lingual gyrus, and right precentral gyrus, was worth noting. These results seem meaningful, as they demonstrate the connectivity associated with the control of voluntary movement related to memory from human experience, although limited to driving tasks.

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Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity Related to Neurologic Dysfunction in Patients With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2021.731585 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Mengmeng Feng ◽

Hongwei Wen ◽

Haotian Xin ◽

Nan Zhang ◽

Changhu Liang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Small Vessel Disease ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease ◽

Small Vessel ◽

Clinical Parameters ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Roc Curve Analysis ◽

Spontaneous Brain Activity ◽

Vessel Disease ◽

The Right

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) encompasses several diseases affecting the small arteries, arterioles, venules, and capillaries of the brain and refers to several pathological processes and etiologies. Neuroimaging is considered the gold standard for detecting CSVD, which can present diverse features on MRI. Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in CSVD have been demonstrated to play a synergistic role in both cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative pathology. Considering previous studies on brain structural abnormalities in CSVD, in the present study, we aimed to explore altered spontaneous brain activity among CSVD patients using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) methods based on resting-state functional MRI. In this study, we recruited 24 CSVD patients with CMBs (CSVD-c), 42 CSVD patients without CMBs (CSVD-n) and 36 healthy controls from outpatient clinics in Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University between September 2018 and June 2019. All subjects underwent 3-T MRI, including blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) and susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). Anatomic structures were segmented, ALFF/fALFF values were calculated, and ReHo maps were generated. Further statistical analysis was applied to study the difference in ALFF/fALFF/ReHo among the three groups and the association between ALFF/fALFF/ReHo changes in different brain regions and clinical characteristics. Twenty-four CSVD-c patients (age: 67.54 ± 6.00 years, 10 females), 42 CSVD-n patients (age: 66.33 ± 5.25 years, 22 females) and 36 healthy subjects (age: 64.14 ± 8.57 years, 19 females) were evaluated. Compared with controls, the CSVD-c group showed significantly increased ALFF values in the right insula, putamen and left precuneus; decreased fALFF values in the right precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus; and increased ReHo values in the left precuneus, fusiform gyrus, right supplementary motor area (SMA), and superior frontal gyrus. Notably, the mean ALFF values of the right insula and putamen were not only significantly related to all clinical parameters but also demonstrated the best performance in Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. These findings reveal CSVD-c patients have dysfunctions in the default mode network, sensorimotor network and frontoparietal network, which may implicate the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms of intrinsic brain activity. The correlation between altered spontaneous neuronal activity and clinical parameters provides early useful diagnostic biomarkers for CSVD.

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Dynamic Changes of Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Patients With Diabetic Retinopathy

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2021.611702 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Xin Huang ◽

Zhi Wen ◽

Chen-Xing Qi ◽

Yan Tong ◽

Yin Shen

Keyword(s):

Diabetic Retinopathy ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Function ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽

Cerebral Activity ◽

Visual Cortices ◽

Middle Occipital Gyrus ◽

The Right ◽

Intrinsic Brain Activity

Background: Growing evidence demonstrate that diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients have a high risk of cognitive decline and exhibit abnormal brain activity. However, neuroimaging studies thus far have focused on static cerebral activity changes in DR patients. The characteristics of dynamic cerebral activity in patients with DR are poorly understood.Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the dynamic cerebral activity changes in patients with DR using the dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) method.Materials and methods: Thirty-four DR patients (18 men and 16 women) and 38 healthy controls (HCs) (18 males and 20 females) closely matched in age, sex, and education were enrolled in this study. The dALFF method was used to investigate dynamic intrinsic brain activity differences between the DR and HC groups.Results: Compared with HCs, DR patients exhibited increased dALFF variability in the right brainstem, left cerebellum_8, left cerebellum_9, and left parahippocampal gyrus. In contrast, DR patients exhibited decreased dALFF variability in the left middle occipital gyrus and right middle occipital gyrus.Conclusion: Our study highlighted that DR patients showed abnormal variability of dALFF in the visual cortices, cerebellum, and parahippocampal gyrus. These findings suggest impaired visual and motor and memory function in DR individuals. Thus, abnormal dynamic spontaneous brain activity might be involved in the pathophysiology of DR.

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