Functional Connectivity Density Alterations in Children with Strabismus and Amblyopia based on Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate functional connectivity density (FCD) values of brain areas in children with strabismus and amblyopia (SA) by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).Methods: This study recruited 26 children (14 male, 12 female) with SA and 26 healthy children (14 male, 12 female) as healthy controls. Both groups matched in age, gender, educational level and socioeconomic background. All participants underwent fMRI scanning while resting. Visual function of participants was also evaluated by an ophthalmic examination; rs-fMRI data was then used to determine global and short-range FCD. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to investigate whether there was a significant difference between children with SA and healthy controls. This experiment has passed the ethical approval and obtained the logic number cdyfy201511.Results: Global FCD values of children with SA were found to be remarkably decreased in the right cerebellum, left lenticular nucleus, putamen, and right superior frontal gyrus as compared with healthy controls; global FCD values of children with SA were increased in the right angular gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, left angular gyrus, right superior parietal gyrus, and right middle frontal gyrus. In children with SA, short-range FCD values were found to be remarkably decreased in regions of the middle right temporal pole, right cerebellum, left lenticular nucleus, putamen, left hippocampus, right hippocampus, left thalamus, left cerebellum; values were increased in the right superior parietal gyrus as compared with healthy controls.Conclusion: We noted abnormal neural connectivity in some brain areas of children with SA; the detailing of such connectivity aberrations is helpful in exploring the pathophysiology of SA and providing useful information for future clinical management.

Characteristics of brain activation in high-level football players at different stages of decision-making tasks off the ball: an fMRI study

“…In the correlation analysis between the ROIs and behavioral performance (accuracy) in a key-press decision task, it was observed that in the NG group, activation in the left rectus gyrus, bilateral thalamus, and left temporal pole showed a significant negative correlation with accuracy during the keypress decision phase. The rectus gyrus is associated with episodic memory (Feng et al, 2020), the thalamus is involved in visual information processing (Shi et al, 2022), and the temporal pole plays an important role in perceptual processing (Bangert and Altenmuller, 2003). This finding suggests that the activation in these brain regions in the novice group may be associated with lower decision-making ability or uncertainty, leading to decreased accuracy in decision-making behavior.…”