scholarly journals Altered spontaneous neural activity in the precuneus, middle and superior frontal gyri, and hippocampus in college students with subclinical depression

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Zhang ◽  
Shouliang Qi ◽  
Shuang Liu ◽  
Xiaoya Liu ◽  
Xinhua Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Subclinical depression (ScD) is a prevalent condition associated with relatively mild depressive states, and it poses a high risk of developing into major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural pathology of ScD is still largely unknown. Identifying the spontaneous neural activity involved in ScD may help clarify risk factors for MDD and explore treatment strategies for mild stages of depression. Methods A total of 34 ScD subjects and 40 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls were screened from 1105 college students. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) of resting-state fMRI were calculated to reveal neural activity. Strict statistical strategies, including Gaussian random field (GRF), false discovery rate (FDR), and permutation test (PT) with threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE), were conducted. Based on the altered ALFF and ReHo, resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) was further analyzed using a seed-based approach. Results The right precuneus and left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) both showed significantly increased ALFF and ReHo in ScD subjects. Moreover, the left hippocampus and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) showed decreased ALFF and increased ReHo, respectively. In addition, ScD subjects showed increased RSFC between MFG and hippocampus compared to healthy controls, and significant positive correlation was found between the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) score and RSFC from MFG to hippocampus in ScD group. Conclusion Spontaneous neural activities in the right precuneus, left MFG, SFG, and hippocampus were altered in ScD subjects. Functional alterations in these dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and default mode network regions are largely related to abnormal emotional processing in ScD, and indicate strong associations with brain impairments in MDD, which provide insight into potential pathophysiology mechanisms of subclinical depression.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jieke Liu ◽  
Yong Li ◽  
Xi Yang ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
Jing Ren ◽  
...  

Objective: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) studies have revealed inconsistent regional spontaneous neural activity alterations in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of our meta-analysis was to identify concordant regional spontaneous neural activity abnormalities in patients with T2DM.Methods: A systematic search was conducted to identify voxel-based rs-fMRI studies comparing T2DM patients with healthy controls. The permutation of subject images seed-based d mapping (SDM) was used to quantitatively estimate the regional spontaneous neural activity abnormalities in patients with T2DM. Metaregression was conducted to examine the associations between clinical characteristics and functional alterations.Results: A total of 16 studies with 19 datasets including 434 patients with T2DM and 391 healthy controls were included. Patients with T2DM showed hypoactivity in the right medial superior frontal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, and left lingual gyrus, whereas hyperactivity in the right cerebellum. Metaregression analysis identified negative correlation between regional activity in the medial superior frontal and anterior cingulate gyri and illness duration of patients with T2DM.Conclusion: The patterns of regional spontaneous neural activity alterations, characterized by hypoactivity in the medial pre-frontal cortex, visual cortex, and superior temporal gyrus, whereas hyperactivity in the cerebellum, might represent the underlying neuropathological mechanisms of T2DM.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 1637-1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Xu ◽  
W. Qin ◽  
C. Zhuo ◽  
L. Xu ◽  
J. Zhu ◽  
...  

BackgroundAs a disconnection syndrome, schizophrenia has shown impaired resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC); however, the OFC is a rather heterogeneous region and the rsFC changes in the OFC subregions remain unknown.MethodA total of 98 schizophrenia patients and 102 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional MRI using a sensitivity-encoded spiral-in imaging sequence (SENSE-SPIRAL) to reduce susceptibility-induced signal loss and distortion. The OFC subregions were defined according to a previous parcellation study that divided the OFC into the anterior (OFCa), medial (OFCm), posterior (OFCp), intermediate (OFCi), and lateral (OFCl) subregions. The rsFC was compared using two-way repeated-measures ANOVA.ResultsWhether or not global signal regression, compared with healthy controls, schizophrenia patients consistently exhibited decreased rsFC between the left OFCi and the left middle temporal gyrus and the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG), between the right OFCi and the right MFG and the left inferior frontal gyrus, between the right OFCm and the middle cingulate cortex and the left Rolandic operculum. These rsFC changes still remained significant even after cortical atrophy correction.ConclusionsThese findings suggest a selective functional disconnection of the OFC subregions in schizophrenia, and provide more precise information about the functional disconnections of the OFC in this disorder.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Coppola ◽  
Antonio Di Renzo ◽  
Emanuele Tinelli ◽  
Barbara Petolicchio ◽  
Vincenzo Parisi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background We searched for differences in resting-state functional connectivity (FC) between brain networks and its relationship with the microstructure of the thalamus between migraine with pure visual auras (MA), and migraine with complex neurological auras (MA+), i.e. with the addition of at least one of sensory or language symptom. Methods 3T MRI data were obtained from 20 patients with MA and 15 with MA + and compared with those from 19 healthy controls (HCs). We collected resting state data among independent component networks. Diffusivity metrics of bilateral thalami were calculated and correlated with resting state ICs-Z-scores. Results As compared to HCs, both patients with MA and MA + disclosed disrupted FC between the default mode network (DMN) and the right dorsal attention system (DAS). The MA + subgroup had lower microstructural metrics than both HCs and the MA subgroup, which correlated negatively with the strength of DMN connectivity. Although the microstructural metrics of MA patients did not differ from those of HCs, these patients lacked the correlation with the strength of DAS connectivity found in HCs. Conclusions The present findings suggest that, as far as MRI profiles are concerned, the two clinical phenotypes of migraine with aura have both common and distinct morpho-functional features of nodes in the thalamo-cortical network.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 251581631880482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Lisicki ◽  
Kevin D’Ostilio ◽  
Gianluca Coppola ◽  
Alain Maertens de Noordhout ◽  
Vincenzo Parisi ◽  
...  

Rather than a localized alteration, increased visual reactivity in migraine patients seems to result from a complex interaction between several brain structures, mostly involving the ventral attention network. The hub of this network is the right temporo-parietal junction. In this report, complementing our previous findings, we describe the differences in seed-to-voxel resting-state functional connectivity seeded in the right temporo-parietal junction (right angular gyrus) between migraine patients and healthy controls. Resting-state functional MRIs of episodic migraine without aura patients in the interictal period ( n = 19) and matched healthy controls ( n = 19) were analysed. With the seed placed in the right temporo-parietal junction (right angular gyrus), seed-to-voxel connectivity was compared between groups. Electrophysiological, voxel-based morphometry (both groups) and specific region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI functional connectivity (migraine patients) data have already been published. Migraine patients showed a higher positive interaction between the right temporo-parietal junction and both temporal poles and a higher negative interaction between this same region and bilateral areas of the visual cortex. On the basis of our results, and because of their established properties as multisensory integration hubs, it is likely that the right temporo-parietal junction and both temporal poles are involved in the altered processing of sensory stimulus commonly observed in migraine patients. Therefore, more attention should be paid to these regions for migraine research in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1130-1141
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Käsbauer ◽  
Paola Mengotti ◽  
Gereon R. Fink ◽  
Simone Vossel

Although multiple studies characterized the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), little is known about the link between rTPJ rsFC and cognitive functions. Given a putative involvement of rTPJ in both reorienting of attention and the updating of probabilistic beliefs, this study characterized the relationship between rsFC of rTPJ with dorsal and ventral attention systems and these two cognitive processes. Twenty-three healthy young participants performed a modified location-cueing paradigm with true and false prior information about the percentage of cue validity to assess belief updating and attentional reorienting. Resting-state fMRI was recorded before and after the task. Seed-based correlation analysis was employed, and correlations of each behavioral parameter with rsFC before the task, as well as with changes in rsFC after the task, were assessed in an ROI-based approach. Weaker rsFC between rTPJ and right intraparietal sulcus before the task was associated with relatively faster updating of the belief that the cue will be valid after false prior information. Moreover, relatively faster belief updating, as well as faster reorienting, were related to an increase in the interhemispheric rsFC between rTPJ and left TPJ after the task. These findings are in line with task-based connectivity studies on related attentional functions and extend results from stroke patients demonstrating the importance of interhemispheric parietal interactions for behavioral performance. The present results not only highlight the essential role of parietal rsFC for attentional functions but also suggest that cognitive processing during a task changes connectivity patterns in a performance-dependent manner.


2019 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela V. Spalatro ◽  
Federico Amianto ◽  
Zirui Huang ◽  
Federico D’Agata ◽  
Mauro Bergui ◽  
...  

AbstractBackground:Despite the great number of resting state functional connectivity studies on Eating Disorders (ED), no biomarkers could be detected yet. Therefore, we here focus on a different measure of resting state activity that is neuronal variability. The objective of this study was to investigate neuronal variability in the resting state of women with ED and to correlate possible differences with clinical and psychopathological indices.Methods:58 women respectively 25 with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), 16 with Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and 17 matched healthy controls (CN) were enrolled for the study. All participants were tested with a battery of psychometric tests and underwent a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) resting state scanning. We investigated topographical patterns of variability measured by the Standard Deviation (SD) of the Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) signal (as a measure of neuronal variability) in the resting-state and their relationship to clinical and psychopathological indices.Results:Neuronal variability was increased in both anorectic and bulimic subjects specifically in the Ventral Attention Network (VAN) compared to healthy controls. No significant differences were found in the other networks. Significant correlations were found between neuronal variability of VAN and various clinical and psychopathological indices.Conclusions:We here show increased neuronal variability of VAN in ED patients. As the VAN is relevant for switching between endogenous and exogenous stimuli, our results showing increased neuronal variability suggest unstable balance between body attention and attention to external world. These results offer new perspective on the neurobiological basis of ED. Clinical and therapeutic implication will be discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Morris ◽  
Aaron Kucyi ◽  
Sheeba Arnold Anteraper ◽  
Maiya Rachel Geddes ◽  
Alfonso Nieto-Castañon ◽  
...  

AbstractInformation about a person’s available energy resources is integrated in daily behavioral choices that weigh motor costs against expected rewards. It has been posited that humans have an innate attraction towards effort minimization and that executive control is required to overcome this prepotent disposition. With sedentary behaviors increasing at the cost of millions of dollars spent in health care and productivity losses due to physical inactivity-related deaths, understanding the predictors of sedentary behaviors will improve future intervention development and precision medicine approaches. In 64 healthy older adults participating in a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention, we use neuroimaging (resting state functional connectivity), baseline measures of executive function and accelerometer measures of time spent sedentary to predict future changes in objectively measured time spent sedentary in daily life. Using cross-validation and bootstrap resampling, our results demonstrate that functional connectivity between 1) the anterior cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor area and 2) the right anterior insula and the left temporoparietal/temporooccipital junction, predict changes in time spent sedentary, whereas baseline cognitive, behavioral and demographic measures do not. Previous research has shown activation in and between the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor area as well as in the right anterior insula during effort avoidance and tasks that integrate motor costs and reward benefits in effort-based decision making. Our results add important knowledge toward understanding mechanistic associations underlying complex sedentary behaviors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxian Zhang ◽  
Huayun Li ◽  
Qinyan Xu ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives In this study, we aimed to investigate the spontaneous neural activity in the conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz) and two sub-frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz, and slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz) in tension-type headache (TTH) patients with regional homogeneity (ReHo) analyses. Methods Thirty-eight TTH patients and thirty-eight healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) scanning to investigate abnormal spontaneous neural activity using ReHo analysis in conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz) and two sub-frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz and slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz). Results In comparison with the HC group, patients with TTH exhibited ReHo increases in the right medial superior frontal gyrus in the conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz). The between group differences in the slow-5 band (0.01–0.027 Hz) highly resembled the differences in the conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz); even the voxels with increased ReHo were spatially more extensive, including the right medial superior frontal gyrus and the middle frontal gyrus. In contrast, no region showed significant between-group differences in the slow-4 band (0.027–0.073 Hz). The correlation analyses showed no correlation between the ReHo values in TTH patients and VAS scores, course of disease and number of seizures per month in conventional band (0.01−0.08 Hz), slow-4 band (0.027–0.073 Hz), as well as in slow-5 band (0.01–0.027 Hz). Conclusions The results showed that the superior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus were involved in the integration and processing of pain signals. In addition, the abnormal spontaneous neural activity in TTH patients was frequency-specific. Namely, slow-5 band (0.01–0.027 Hz) might contain additional useful information in comparison to slow-4 band (0.027−0.073 Hz). This preliminary exploration might provide an objective imaging basis for the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanism of TTH.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Chen ◽  
Qian Wu ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Jiang Zhou ◽  
Huan-Huan Chen ◽  
...  

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to investigate the brain functional alteration in patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) by evaluating the spontaneous neural activity changes using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) with the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method.Materials and MethodsThe rs-fMRI data of 30 TAO patients (15 active and 15 inactive) and 15 healthy controls (HCs) were included for analyses. The ALFF values were calculated and compared among groups. Correlations between ALFF values and clinical metrics were assessed.ResultsCompared with HCs, active TAOs showed significantly decreased ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, and cuneus. Compared with inactive TAOs, active TAOs showed significantly increased ALFF values in the bilateral precuneus. Additionally, inactive TAOs showed significantly decreased ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, cuneus, and bilateral precuneus than HCs. The ALFF value in the right precuneus of TAOs was positively correlated with clinical activity score (r = 0.583, P < 0.001) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (r = 0.377, P = 0.040), and negatively correlated with disease duration (r = −0.382, P = 0.037). Moreover, the ALFF value in the left middle occipital gyrus of TAOs was positively correlated with visual acuity (r = 0.441, P = 0.015).ConclusionTAO patients had altered spontaneous brain activities in the left occipital lobe and bilateral precuneus. The neuropsychological aspect of the disease should be noticed during clinical diagnosis and treatment.


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