Alternation of brain intrinsic activity in patients with hypertensive retinopathy: a resting-state fMRI study

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the changes of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in brain regions of patients with hypertensive retinopathy by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and change in the relationship of ALFF value with potential emotional and psychological changes. Methods: Thirty-one patients with hypertensive retinopathy (HR) (16 men and 15 women) and 31 healthy controls (HCs; 16 men and 15 women) matched for age, sex, and weight were enrolled in the research. The changes in mean ALFF values could reflect brain activity between HR patients and HCs. We used the independent samples t-test to evaluate different demographic and general information between the two groups. Two-sample t-test was used to detect differences of mean ALFF values in the brain region between the two groups using the same software. Results: The ALFF values in the brain areas of HR and HCs were different. HR patients had lower ALFF value in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus than the HCs. The higher ALFF values were found in the cerebellum (left inferior and right superior lobes, vermis) and left inferior temporal gyrus of the HR patients than the controls. Conclusion: Our findings showed fluctuations in ALFF values in the HR patients’ brain regions. ALFF values reflect over or reduced activity in brain regions. Abnormal ALFF values in these brain areas can predict early HR development, preventing the malignant transformation of hypertensive microangiopathy.

Altered regional brain white matter in dry eye patients: a brain imaging study

“…Our previous studies [ 13 – 15 ] found that some ophthalmic diseases can cause brain regional changes. Using fMRI, researchers found that DE may lead to dysfunction of specific brain regions [ 16 ].…”

Spontaneous brain activity in patients with central retinal artery occlusion: a resting-state functional MRI study using machine learning

“…The study has reported that lobules VI and VII of the vermis, also referred to as the oculomotor vermis, play a crucial role in saccade adaptation [37]. Furthermore, lesions in the cerebellar vermis may lead to balance disorders because of its connections with the spinal cord and vestibular nucleus [38]. In conclusion, these findings align with our study results, suggesting that the decline in fALFF values in the right cerebellar Crus2 and the amplified ALFF values in the left cerebellar region 6 and vermis_7 may be linked to compromised optic nerve function and impaired balance movement in individuals with CRAO.…”

Frequency-Dependent Changes of Spontaneous Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration

“…Several rs-fMRI metrics are available for measuring the regional intensity of spontaneous LFFs. Amplitude of low-frequency uctuation (ALFF) (Zang et al, 2007), can directly re ect the intensity of spontaneous neural activity and has been applied widely in eye diseases including glaucoma (Peng et al, 2021), strabismus (Min et al, 2018), retinal vein occlusion (Wu et al, 2019), and hypertensive retinopathy (Hu et al, 2021). ALFF has also been proven to have moderate to high test-retest reliability primarily in gray matter (Zou et al, 2008).…”

“…However, most rs-fMRI studies adopting the methods above investigated LFFs amplitude at traditional frequency band (0.01-0.08 Hz) (Hu et al, 2021;Min et al, 2018;Peng et al, 2021), because this frequency band was thought to be related to neuronal uctuations (Biswal et al, 1995;D. Zhang & Raichle, 2010).…”