Correlation between cognitive function and resting-state interhemispheric voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity in patients with chronic schizophrenia / 四川精神卫生

BackgroundCognitive impairment， a core clinical feature of schizophrenia， is considered to be associated with the aberrant functional connectivity in patients with schizophrenia， whereas previous studies on the characteristics of cognitive impairment in patients with chronic schizophrenia and its correlation with interhemispheric voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity （VMHC） are somewhat inadequate. ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of cognitive impairment in patients with chronic schizophrenia who are clinically stable on their antipsychotic medication， and to explore its correlation with resting-state interhemispheric VMHC， so as to provide theoretical basis for the identification of neurobiological mechanism possibly responsible for cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia. MethodsA total of 15 patients with chronic schizophrenia who met the criteria of the International Classification of Diseases， tenth edition （ICD-10） and hospitalized in Suzhou Guangji Hospital from January 2021 to December 2022 were included. Another 15 healthy community-dwelling individuals were concurrently recruited. All participants were requested to complete the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale （PANSS）， Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status （RBANS） and resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging （rs-fMRI） scanning to evaluate their mental symptoms， cognitive function and interhemispheric functional connectivity. The rs-fMRI data were analyzed with VMHC method. Then Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the correlation between VMHC values of regions of interest and scores of RBANS and PANSS within patient group. ResultsPatient group obtained lower scores than control group based on RBANS immediate memory， visuospatial/constructional， language， attention and total score， with statistically significant differences （t=-2.853， -2.107， -5.576， -7.108， -5.354， P<0.05 or 0.01）. The VMHC values of left superior occipital gyrus （t=-5.188， P<0.05） and right cuneus （t=-5.188， P<0.05） in patient group were lower than those in control group， with statistical difference. Correlation analysis denoted that the VMHC values of left superior occipital gyrus （r=0.612， P=0.015） and right cuneus （r=0.612， P=0.015） were positively correlated with visuospatial/constructional index score in RBANS. ConclusionThe resting-state VMHC is abnormal in left superior occipital gyrus and right cuneus of patients with chronic schizophrenia， and yields a correlation with the visuospatial/constructional performance of patients. ［Funded by Suzhou Science and Technology Development Plan Project （number， SKJYD2021131； SKJY2021143）］

Characteristics of resting-state brain voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity in patients with chronic schizophrenia / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective:To investigate the brain characteristics of chronic schizophrenia by voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC).Methods:Forty seven patients with chronic schizophrenia from Tianjin Anding Hospital and 31 healthy controls from nearby communities were included in the study. The MRI data of the subjects were collected by Siemens Skyra 3.0 T MRI.Positive and negative symptoms scale (PANSS) was used to assess the illness severity of patients with chronic schizophrenia.SPM12 was used to process the collected MRI data. DPARSF was used to calculate the VMHC values of subjects in the two groups. The independent sample t test based on SPM12 was used to compare the VMHC values of the two groups. The significant brain regions in VMHC were regarded as regions of interest (ROI), and VBM8 was used to further analyze the gray matter volume of the ROI of the two groups. Results:Compared with healthy controls, the patients with chronic schizophrenia demonstrated decreased VMHC mainly located in lingual gyrus(voxel=208, T=4.98), occipital middle occipital gyrus(voxel=156, T=3.75) and postcentral gyrus(voxel=237, T=4.36) (FDR correction, q=0.05). Compared with healthy controls, the gray matter volumes in bilateral lingual gyrus(left(0.0034±0.0008), (0.0028±0.0013), t=-2.141, P=0.037; right(0.0025±0.0006), (0.0020±0.0011), t=2.268, P=0.028) and postcentral gyrus((0.0432±0.0051), (0.0372±0.0162), t=-2.070, P=0.045) increased, but non-significant change in postcentral gyrus of the patients with chronic schizophrenia. Conclusion:The abnormal VMHC mainly locate in lingual gyrus, middle occipital gyrus and postcentral gyrus in patients with chronic schizophrenia.

Interhemispheric functional connectivity in patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

Objective To investigate functional connectivity between the two hemispheres in patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity ( VMHC ) based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Methods Eighteen patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls underwent the rs-fMRI. The whole brain VMHC was calculated in order to provide imaging basis for the study of the pathological mechanism of schizophrenia. Results Compared to the controls, VMHC values were decreased in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (t=-5.31, P<0.01), fusiform gyrus (t=-5.16, P<0.01), middle occipital gyrus (t=-5.31, P<0.01) in patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Conclusion The functional coordination between homotopic brain regions is impaired in patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia .

Interhemispheric functional connectivity for Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment based on the triple network model / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in interhemispheric functional connectivity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) based on a triple network model consisting of the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and executive control network (ECN). The technique of voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) analysis was applied to explore the aberrant connectivity of all patients. The results showed that: (1) the statistically significant connections of interhemispheric brain regions included DMN-related brain regions (i.e. precuneus, calcarine, fusiform, cuneus, lingual gyrus, temporal inferior gyrus, and hippocampus), SN-related brain regions (i.e. frontoinsular cortex), and ECN-related brain regions (i.e. frontal middle gyrus and frontal inferior); (2) the precuneus and frontal middle gyrus in the AD group exhibited lower VMHC values than those in the aMCI and healthy control (HC) groups, but no significant difference was observed between the aMCI and HC groups; and (3) significant correlations were found between peak VMHC results from the precuneus and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Scale (MOCA) scores and their factor scores in the AD, aMCI, and AD plus aMCI groups, and between the results from the frontal middle gyrus and MOCA factor scores in the aMCI group. These findings indicated that impaired interhemispheric functional connectivity was observed in AD and could be a sensitive neuroimaging biomarker for AD. More specifically, the DMN was inhibited, while the SN and ECN were excited. VMHC results were correlated with MMSE and MOCA scores, highlighting that VMHC could be a sensitive neuroimaging biomarker for AD and the progression from aMCI to AD.

A multi-parameter resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study of brain intrinsic activity in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder children / 生物医学工程学杂志

A great number of studies have demonstrated functional abnormalities in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), although conflicting results have also been reported. And few studies analyzed homotopic functional connectivity between hemispheres. In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were recorded from 45 medication-naïve ADHD children and 26 healthy controls. The regional homogeneity (ReHo), degree centrality (DC) and voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) values were compared between the two groups to depict the intrinsic brain activities. We found that ADHD children exhibited significantly lower ReHo and DC values in the right middle frontal gyrus and the two values correlated with each other; moreover, lower VMHC values were found in the bilateral occipital lobes of ADHD children, which was negatively related with anxiety scores of Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R) and positively related with completed categories of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Our results might suggest that less spontaneous neuronal activities of the right middle frontal gyrus and the bilateral occipital lobes in ADHD children.

Interhemispheric Functional and Structural Alterations in Unilateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy / 中国医学影像学杂志

Purpose To investigate the alterations of homotopic functional connectivity and interhemispheric structural connectivity in patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (unilateral TLE).Materials and Methods Resting-state functional MR imaging data were acquired from patients in the first affliated hospital of Guang Zhou Medical University who were enrolled from Oct.2013 to Oct.2015 with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (n=43) [21 left TLE(LTLE) and 22 right TLE(RTLE)] and normal controls (NC) (n=24).We mainly concerned about the functional connectivity between any pair of symmetric interhemispheric voxels which were measured by voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC).Structural magnetic resonance images were acquired in 10 LTLE patients,16 RTLE patients and 20 NCs.Homotopic regions showing abnormal functional connectivity in patients were adopted as regions of interest for DTI.The FA values were compared between groups.Two-sample t test were used.Results Compared with NC group,the LTLE patients showed increased interhemispheric functional connectivity among the bilateral angular gyri,occipital gyri and superior parietal gyri,and decreased functional connectivity between the bilateral supplementary motor areas,middle temporal gyri,medial frontal gyri and inferior parietal lobules.Compared with control subjects,RTLE patients exhibited increased interhemispheric functional connectivity among bilateral inferior occipital gyri,parahippocampa gyri,cerebellum,as well as decreased functional connectivity among the bilateral middle temporal gyri,precentral gyri and inferi or frontalgyri.Statistical results indicated that the FA value of the commissural fiber bundles connecting the bilateral hippocampal gyri was smaller in RTLE patients than NC patients (t=10.55,P＜0.01).The FA value of the association fibers connecting the bilateral hippocampal gyrus had no significant difference between the LTLE group and NC group.Conclusion The increase or decrease of VMHC value in some brain regions in TLE suggested that there were changes in the functional synchronization and coordination in the two hemispheres in patients with unilateral TLE.In the RTLE patients,some brain regions which had abnormal interhemispheric functional connectivity also had structural damage.

Decreased interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity in chronic primary trigeminal neuralgia / 实用放射学杂志

Objective To investigate the alterations of interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity in patients with chro-nic primary trigeminal neuralgia (CPTN).Methods Twenty patients with CPTN and 20 age-,gender-,and education-matched healthy subjects underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI)scanning.The voxel-mirrored homo-topic connectivity(VMHC)approach and statistic analysis were used to investigate the interhemispheric coordination of the whole brain.Results Compared with healthy controls,decreased VMHC was found in patients with CPTN,including medial and lateral or-bitofrontal cortex,and premotor (P <0.05,GRF corrected).Conclusion Our results suggest that decreased VMHC in brain regions indicate the aberrant perceptual and affective processing of CPTN,and limited complex movements function.