Abnormal Regional Spontaneous Neural Activity in Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study

Abstract

Objective. To explore altered regional neuronal activity in patients with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) and its correlation with clinical performances using the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method, which is based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Method. Thirty-one patients with NAION (20 males, 11 females) and 31 age- and sex-matched normal controls (NCs) (20 males, 11 females) were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent ophthalmic examination, including eyesight, intraocular pressure measurement, optimal coherence tomography (OCT), visual field analysis, and fMRI scans. After ReHo was calculated, we investigated group differences in results between the patients and NCs. We analyzed the relationship between ReHo values for different brain regions in patients with NAION and intraocular pressure, visual field analysis, and OCT. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the diagnostic ability of the ReHo method. Results. Compared with NCs, patients with NAION exhibited higher ReHo values in the left middle frontal gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and left inferior parietal lobule. Additionally, they exhibited lower ReHo values in the right lingual gyrus, left putamen/lentiform nucleus, and left superior parietal lobule. ReHo values in the left superior parietal lobule were negatively correlated with right retinal nerve fiber layer values (r=−0.462, P=0.01). The area under the ROC curve for each brain region indicated that the ReHo method is a credible means of diagnosing patient with NAION. Conclusion. NAION was primarily associated with dysfunction in the default mode network, which may reflect its underlying neural mechanisms.

Hyperintensities of middle frontal gyrus in patients with diabetic optic neuropathy: a dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation study

“…Japee et al [ 52 ] demonstrated that this function may be conducive to remedying the effect of lesions in areas of the cerebrum. Previous studies [ 33 , 53 ] have indicated that there are decreased ReHo and degree centrality values of MFG_R in DON patients. ReHo was used to evaluate local synchronization of adjacent voxels in the whole cerebrum at rest [ 54 ], and degree centrality was used to observe the connectivity of cerebrum networks at the voxel level [ 55 ].…”

“…Japee et al [52] demonstrated that this function may be conducive to remedying the effect of lesions in areas of the cerebrum. Previous studies [33,53] have indicated that there are decreased ReHo and degree ReHo was used to evaluate local synchronization of adjacent voxels in the whole cerebrum at rest [54], and degree centrality was used to observe the connectivity of cerebrum networks at the voxel level [55]. However, dALFF as an extension of rs-fMRI can better reflect the dynamic electrical activity of the cerebrum in diseases, especially applied in DR [28], consciousness [20], anxiety [56], and depression [57].…”

Altered Intrinsic Regional Spontaneous Brain Activity in Patients With Severe Obesity and Meibomian Gland Dysfunction: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

“…The regional homogeneity (ReHo) method is a resting pattern functional magnetic resonance surveying method that has been used to assess lesions of the cerebrum ( Guo et al, 2020 ). The ReHo method can measure the similarity of a time series of specific voxels and their nearest neighbors ( Ding et al, 2020 ).…”

Altered spontaneous brain activity in patients with diabetic optic neuropathy: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study using regional homogeneity

“…In technical BOLD studies, it was found to be useful for demonstrating abnormal cortical structure and function in patients with nonarterial anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). In addition to being noninvasive, fMRI also has advantages of high spatial resolution and recognition of neuronal activity[ 7 ]. fMRI has been applied to study cortical reorganization after NAION[ 8 ], and the results showed that neuronal activity in the occipital visual area plays an vital role in visual acuity, while a complete visual pathway depends on the normal activation of neurons in the visual cortex.…”