Brain structural and functional connectivity alterations are associated with fatigue in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

Abstract

Background Many patients with neurological disorders experience chronic fatigue, but the neural mechanisms involved are unclear. Objective Here we investigated whether the brain structural and functional connectivity alterations were involved in fatigue related to neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Methods This prospective pilot study used structural and resting-state functional brain magnetic resonance imaging to compare total cortical thickness, cortical surface area, deep gray matter volume and functional connectivity (FC) between 33 patients with NMOSD and 20 healthy controls (HCs). Patients were subgrouped as low fatigue (LF) and high fatigue (HF). Results HF patients scored higher on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression than LF patients and HCs. The two patient subgroups and HC group did not differ significantly in cortical thickness, cortical surface area and volumes of the bilateral caudate nucleus, bilateral putamen, bilateral amygdala, bilateral hippocampus, bilateral thalamus proper or right nucleus accumbens (p > 0.05). However, after correcting for age, sex, years of education, anxiety and depression, HF patients showed larger left pallidum than HCs (0.1573 ± 0.0214 vs 0.1372 ± 0.0145, p = 0.009). Meanwhile, both LF patients (0.0377 ± 0.0052 vs 0.0417 ± 0.0052, p = 0.009) and HF patients (0.0361 ± 0.0071 vs 0.0417 ± 0.0052, p = 0.013) showed smaller left nucleus accumbens than HCs.. Compared with LF patients, HF patients showed significantly decreased FC between the left pallidum and bilateral cerebellar posterior lobes. Conclusions This was the first evidence linking structural and functional alterations in the brain to fatigue in NMOSD, and in the future, long term follow-up was necessary.

Temporal and topological properties of dynamic networks reflect disability in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

“…We analyzed alterations in sFNC in NMOSD patients and discovered that the sFNC strength and topological properties could not be used to differentiate NMOSD patients from HC. These findings differ from those reported in some previous studies, which noted extensive functional reorganization of cognitive (e.g., the DMN, SN, and thalamic network) and sensory networks in patients with NMOSD 11 , 31 – 33 . In these cohorts, NMOSD patients had a longer disease duration and more severe disability (mean disease duration: 3.6 years; median/mean EDSS score: 4.0/3.5), whereas most of our patients were in the early stages of NMOSD, with a shorter disease duration (mean: 1.8 years), less severe disability (median EDSS score: 1.25) and lesion load (median LV = 1.22 ml).…”

Asymmetry of the pelvis in Polish young adults

“…Asymmetry of the pelvis exhibited as the difference in the height of the right and left hip is called pelvic obliquity or leg length inequality ( Zhang et al, 2022b ). According the authors, these terms are not synonyms due to different causes of the asymmetries.…”

Abnormal brain spontaneous neural activity in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder with neuropathic pain

“…In the last two decades, noninvasive MRI techniques have been a critical component for understanding brain reorganization in NMOSD. By employing a range of structural and functional MRI (fMRI) techniques and analytic metrics, significant changes in brain gray matter volume (8)(9)(10)(11), cortical thickness (12), white matter volume (10, 13,14), white matter microstructure (15), resting-state regional homogeneity (16), spontaneous neuronal activity (17), cerebral blood flow (18), neurovascular coupling (19), functional connectivity (11,(20)(21)(22), and structural and functional networks (21,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) have been observed in NMOSD. These changes have been linked to visual impairment, cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, disease severity, disease duration, and other clinical features in NMOSD.…”