目的:最近的影像学研究发现高度近视(HM)患者的大脑功能或结构连接存在明显异常,表明认知障碍和其他行为改变的风险增加。然而,缺乏对HM患者功能网络的拓扑特征和连通性变化的研究。在这项研究中,我们采用图论分析来研究HM患者脑功能网络的拓扑结构和区域连通性。
方法:我们对82名HM患者和59名健康对照(HC)进行了rs-fMRI扫描,确保两组的年龄和教育水平相匹配。通过图论分析,我们研究了参与者的全脑功能网络的拓扑结构,探索两组的拓扑性质和差异。
结果:在稀疏度0.05至0.50的范围内,这两个小组都展示了大脑网络的小世界架构。与对照组相比,HM患者的归一化聚类系数(γ)(P=0.0101)和小世界(σ)(P=0.0168)值显着降低。此外,HM组右侧杏仁核的淋巴结中心性降低(P<0.001,Bonferroni校正)。值得注意的是,HM组中的显著网络(SN)和感觉运动网络(SMN)之间的功能连接(FC)增加,基底神经节间FC强度相对较弱(P<0.01)。
结论:HM患者的大脑网络表现出减少的小世界特征,γ和σ值显着下降,表明全球区域间信息传递能力减弱。不仅如此,HM患者杏仁核节点的拓扑特性显着下降,表明大脑网络内的功能障碍。此外,SN之间的FC有异常,SMN,HM患者的基底神经节网络,这与注意力调节有关,运动障碍,情感,和认知表现。这些发现可能为HM患者的中枢病理提供了新的机制。
OBJECTIVE: Recent imaging studies have found significant abnormalities in the brain\'s functional or structural connectivity among patients with high myopia (HM), indicating a heightened risk of cognitive impairment and other behavioral changes. However, there is a lack of research on the topological characteristics and connectivity changes of the functional networks in HM patients. In this study, we employed graph theoretical analysis to investigate the topological structure and regional connectivity of the brain function network in HM patients.
METHODS: We conducted rs-fMRI scans on 82 individuals with HM and 59 healthy controls (HC), ensuring that the two groups were matched for age and education level. Through graph theoretical analysis, we studied the topological structure of whole-brain functional networks among participants, exploring the topological properties and differences between the two groups.
RESULTS: In the range of 0.05 to 0.50 of sparsity, both groups demonstrated a small-world architecture of the brain network. Compared to the control group, HM patients showed significantly lower values of normalized clustering coefficient (γ) (P = 0.0101) and small-worldness (σ) (P = 0.0168). Additionally, the HM group showed lower nodal centrality in the right Amygdala (P < 0.001, Bonferroni-corrected). Notably, there is an increase in functional connectivity (FC) between the saliency network (SN) and Sensorimotor Network (SMN) in the HM group, while the strength of FC between the basal ganglia is relatively weaker (P < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: HM Patients exhibit reduced small-world characteristics in their brain networks, with significant drops in γ and σ values indicating weakened global interregional information transfer ability. Not only that, the topological properties of the amygdala nodes in HM patients significantly decline, indicating dysfunction within the brain network. In addition, there are abnormalities in the FC between the SN, SMN, and basal ganglia networks in HM patients, which is related to attention regulation, motor impairment, emotions, and cognitive performance. These findings may provide a new mechanism for central pathology in HM patients.