Zhang Y, Chen HX, Shi ZY, Du Q, Wang JC, Wang XF, Qiu YH, Lang YL, Kong LY, Cai LJ, Lin X, Mou ZC, Luo WQ, Li SJ, Zhou HY. Brain structural and functional connectivity alterations are associated with fatigue in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.
BMC Neurol 2022;
22:235. [PMID:
35761294 PMCID:
PMC9235096 DOI:
10.1186/s12883-022-02757-4]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
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.
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