Altered structural and causal connectivity in frontal lobe epilepsy
Benjamin Klugah-Brown,
Cheng Luo,
Rui Peng,
Hui He,
Jianfu Li,
Li Dong,
Dezhong Yao
Affiliations
Benjamin Klugah-Brown
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Cheng Luo
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Rui Peng
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Hui He
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Jianfu Li
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Li Dong
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Dezhong Yao
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Abstract Background Albeit the few resting-state fMRI neuroimaging studies in frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) patients, these studies focused on functional connectivity. The aim of this current study was to examine the effective connectivity based on voxel-based morphometry in FLE patients. Methods Resting-state structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired from 19 FLE patients and 19 age and gender-matched healthy controls using the 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (3.0 T MRI). The investigations were done by acquiring the structural information through voxel-based morphometry, then based on the seed obtained, Granger causality analysis was used to evaluate the causal flow of the designated seed to and from other significant voxels. Results Our results showed altered structural and effective connectivity. Compared with healthy controls, FLE patients showed reduced grey matter volume in bilateral putamen and right caudate as well as altered causality with increased, and decreased causal outflow from the right caudate (seed region) to inferior frontal gyrus-triangular, from bilateral putamen (seed regions) to right middle frontal gyrus and frontal gyrus medial-orbital representing the frontal executive areas, respectively. Also, significantly increased and decreased inflow from left calcarine to right caudate and from cerebellum_6 and vermis_6 to bilateral putamen, respectively. Moreover, we found that the causal alterations to and from the seed regions (from vermis_6 to right putamen and from left putamen to right middle frontal gyrus) negatively correlated with clinical scores (duration of epilepsy). Conclusions The findings point to the impairment within the executive and motor-controlled system including the cerebellum, frontal, caudate and putamen regions in FLE patients. These results would therefore enhance our understanding of structural and effective mechanisms in FLE.
