Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Jun 2022)

A Study of Spontaneous Brain Activity on Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Adults with MRI-Negative Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

  • Yang F,
  • Jia W,
  • Kukun H,
  • Ding S,
  • Zhang H,
  • Wang Y

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18
pp. 1107 – 1116

Abstract

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Fan Yang, Wenxiao Jia, Hanjiaerbieke Kukun, Shuang Ding, Haotian Zhang, Yunling Wang Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yunling Wang, Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 139 9990 9377, Email [email protected]: Patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-negative temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE-N) represent an important subgroup of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Here, we aimed to combine three voxel-based local brain area analysis methods of resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), to examine the TLE-N patients’ resting brain function based on neural synchronization and intensity of local brain areas.Methods: The study included 47 patients with TLE, including 28 cases of drug-controlled TLE (cTLE-N) and 19 cases of drug-resistant TLE-N (rTLE-N), as well as 30 participants in the healthy control (HC) group. To comprehensively assess the altered brain function associated with TLE-N patients, we analyzed three data-driven rs-fMRI algorithms for amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo).Results: Compared to the HC group, the distribution of abnormal functional brain areas in cTLE-N patients was dominated by occipital lobe activation, as measured by increased fALFF values in the superior occipital gyrus (SOG) and increased ReHo values in the lingual gyrus (Lin), fusiform gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. Patients with rTLE-N exhibited a diffuse distribution of abnormal functional brain areas, showing increased fALFF values in the SOG, Lin, superior temporal gyrus, and postcentral gyrus, and decreased fALFF values in the inferior frontal gyrus orbital, parahippocampal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus orbital. The ReHo values were reduced in the orbital region of the middle frontal gyrus, the precuneus, and the parietal inferior angular gyrus; while ReHo values were elevated values in several frontal, temporal, occipital, and subcortical brain areas.Conclusion: Patients with rTLE-N have local brain activity changes in the prefrontal limbic system and default model network dysfunction, while cTLE-N patients have local brain activity changes in the visual functional areas. Different epilepsy networks exist between cTLE-N and rTLE-N.Keywords: temporal lobe epilepsy, resting-state fMRI, ALFF, fALFF, ReHo

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