Disturbed spontaneous brain-activity pattern in patients with optic neuritis using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment Dovepress open access to scientific and medical research Original Research Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 54.37.163.172 on 12-Jul-2018 For personal use only. Open Access Full Text Article Disturbed spontaneous brain-activity pattern in patients with optic neuritis using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study This article was published in the following Dove Press journal: Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 16 December 2015 Number of times this article has been viewed Xin Huang 1,2,* Feng-Qin Cai 3,* Pei-Hong Hu 1 Yu-Lin Zhong 1 Ying Zhang 1 Rong Wei 1 Chong-Gang Pei 1 Fu-Qing Zhou 3 Yi Shao 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangxi Province Clinical Ophthalmology Institute, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, 2Department of Ophthalmology, First People’s Hospital of Jiujiang, Jiujiang, 3Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China 1 *These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence: Fu-Qing Zhou Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, 17 Yongwai Zheng Street, Donghu, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, People’s Republic of China Tel +86 791 8869 5132 Email Yi Shao Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangxi Province Clinical Ophthalmology Institute, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, 17 Yongwai Zheng Street, Donghu, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, People’s Republic of China Tel +86 791 8869 2520 Email Introduction Optic neuritis (ON) is an inflammation of the optic nerve, which is caused by inflammatory demyelination of the optic nerve, infection, or nonspecific inflammation. The main clinical manifestations include pain during eye movement, sudden vision loss in one or both eyes, visual field defects, relative afferent pupillary obstacle, and papilledema.1 Studies have estimated the annual incidence of ON in the USA at 5–6.4 per 100,000, with an epidemic level of 115 per 100,000.2 ON results in lesions of the optic nerve axons and apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells. Clinically, it can occur as an isolated condition or as 3075 submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 2015:11 3075–3083 Dovepress © 2015 Huang et al. This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be found at: http://www.dovepress.com/permissions.php http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S92497 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Objective: To use the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) technique to investigate the local features of spontaneous brain activity in optic neuritis (ON) and their relationship with behavioral performance. Materials and methods: Twelve patients with ON (four male, eight female) and twelve age-, sex-, and education status-matched healthy controls (HCs) (four male, eight female) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans. The ALFF technique was used to assess local features of spontaneous brain activity. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between the observed mean ALFF values of the different areas and visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in patients with ON. Results: Compared with HCs, patients with ON had significantly decreased ALFF values in the posterior and anterior lobes of the right cerebellum, right putamen, right inferior frontal gyrus, right insula, right supramarginal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, left medial frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral anterior cingulate/medial frontal gyrus, and bilateral precuneus, and significantly increased ALFF values in the posterior lobes of the left and right cerebellum, right inferior temporal gyrus, right inferior temporal/fusiform gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, left calcarine fissure, left inferior parietal lobule, and left cuneus. We found negative correlations between the mean ALFF signal value of the left parahippocampal gyrus and the VEP amplitude of the right eye in ON (r=-0.584, P=0.046), and a positive correlation between the mean ALFF signal value of the bilateral precuneus and the best-corrected visual acuity of the left eye (r=0.579, P=0.048) in patients with ON. Conclusion: ON mainly seems to involve dysfunction in the default-mode network, cerebellum, and limbic system, which may reflect the underlying pathologic mechanism of ON. Keywords: ALFF, fMRI, optic neuritis, resting state, spontaneous activity, visual evoked potential Dovepress Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 54.37.163.172 on 12-Jul-2018 For personal use only. Huang et al a symptom of several systemic autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive, high-resolution method that measures the thickness of the retinal nerve-fiber layer. Previous studies have shown that the retinal fiber side is attenuated in patients with ON, which indicates axonal and retinal ganglion-cell loss.3–5 In addition, visual evoked potential (VEP) has greater sensitivity than OCT as a diagnostic test for ON. A previous study showed that ON led to reduction in multifocal VEP amplitude.6 VEP and OCT can also detect axonal degeneration and demyelination of the optic nerve in ON. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is another important clinical test for diagnosing ON, and detects inflammation of the optic nerve and optic papilla by detecting high-density shadows in the optic papilla and anatomy of the optic nerve.7 This may reveal ON demyelination and the potential existence of underlying MS.8 Functional MRI (fMRI) has been used in ON research. A previous fMRI study found decreased functional connectivity in the visual system after acute ON.9 Diffusion-tensor imaging can accurately measure fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity of the visual pathway. Previous research has shown significantly decreased mean FA in the affected nerves of patients with idiopathic demyelinating ON.10 In the acute phase of ON, activation of the lateral geniculate nucleus during visual stimulation of the affected eye was shown to be significantly reduced.11 Other evidence has demonstrated that the optic nerve of patients with ON has reduced white-matter FA and decreased fiber structure.12 Although these findings have demonstrated that there are neuronal morphological changes (...truncated)