Abnormal structural connectivity between the basal ganglia, thalamus, and frontal cortex in patients with disorders of consciousness

Weng, Ling; Xie, Qiuyou; Zhao, Ling; Zhang, Ruibin; Ma, Qing; Wang, Junjing; Jiang, Wenjie; He, Yanbin; Chen, Yan; Li, Changhong; Ni, Xiaoxiao; Xu, Qin; Yu, Rong; Huang, Ruiwang

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.02.011

Cited by 63 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 104 publications

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“…One possible approach to study such anatomical damage to white matter fibers is diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), as performed in DOC patients suffering severe brain injury (Fernandez-Espejo et al, 2011;Galanaud et al, 2012;Luyt et al, 2012), which highlighted widespread disruptions of white matter. Lower fractional anisotropy was indeed found in the subcortico-cortical and cortico-cortical fiber tracts of DOC patients as compared to controls (Lant et al, 2016;Weng et al, 2017), suggesting that major consciousness deficits in DOC patients may be related to altered WM connections between the basal ganglia, thalamus, and frontal cortex. This is also in line with the effect of lesion of myelinated fiber tracts, which can result in a failure of communication between distant brain regions (Adams et al, 2000).…”

Section: Information Processing In Large-scale Functional Network Thmentioning

confidence: 85%

Decoding the circuitry of consciousness: From local microcircuits to brain-scale networks

Modolo

Hassan

Wendling

et al. 2020

Network Neuroscience

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Identifying the physiological processes underlying the emergence and maintenance of consciousness is one of the most fundamental problems of neuroscience, with implications ranging from fundamental neuroscience to the treatment of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). One major challenge is to understand how cortical circuits at drastically different spatial scales, from local networks to brain-scale networks, operate in concert to enable consciousness, and how those processes are impaired in DOC patients. In this review, we attempt to relate available neurophysiological and clinical data with existing theoretical models of consciousness, while linking the micro-and macro-circuit levels. First, we address the relationships between awareness and wakefulness on the one hand, and cortico-cortical, and thalamo-cortical connectivity on the other hand. Second, we discuss the role of three main types of GABAergic interneurons in specific circuits responsible for the dynamical re-organization of functional networks. Third, we explore advances in the functional role of nested oscillations for neural synchronization and communication, emphasizing the importance of the balance between local (high-frequency) and distant (low-frequency) activity for efficient information processing. 2The clinical implications of these theoretical considerations are presented. We propose that such cellular-scale mechanisms could extend current theories of consciousness. IntroductionUnderstanding how consciousness arises from communication among brain regions is a question of the utmost importance in the field of neuroscience in general, and for the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from disorders of consciousness (DOC) in particular. The problem of consciousness can be seen as fundamental (e.g.: "What is consciousness? Why do we have subjective, conscious experiences?", such questions are referred to as the "hard" problem of consciousness (Harnad, 1998)) or more empirical (e.g.: "What are the processes associated with the emergence and maintenance of consciousness?", this forms the "soft" problem of consciousness (Harnad, 1998)). In this review, we aim at understanding 1) how brain networks at different scales are involved in enabling and maintaining conscious processes of information transmission and processing related to awareness and wakefulness, and 2) how these mechanisms are related to the disruptions of consciousness in DOC patients.Many theories have been proposed to explain how consciousness originates, ranging from abstract and informational concepts to neurophysiology-based theories. The most widespread theories of consciousness have a fundamental assumption in common: information processing in 3 the human brain networks is inextricably linked with consciousness. A recent paper by Dehaene and colleagues summarizes this principle as follows :"What we call "consciousness" results from specific types of information-processing computations, physically realized by the hardware of the brain."The three main theories o...

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Section: Information Processing In Large-scale Functional Network Thmentioning

confidence: 85%

Decoding the circuitry of consciousness: From local microcircuits to brain-scale networks

Modolo

Hassan

Wendling

et al. 2020

Network Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Further work has shown that the global connectivity during rest is associated with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) total score and arousal subscale score (Amico et al, 2017). Recently, Weng et al (2017) reported abnormal structural connectivity between the basal ganglia, thalamus, and frontal cortex in patients with DOC. They used a network-based statistical analysis and directly characterized the topological properties of brain axonal fiber profiles in DOC patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural connectome alterations in patients with disorders of consciousness revealed by 7-tesla magnetic resonance imaging

Tan

Zhou

Gao³

et al. 2019

NeuroImage: Clinical

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Although the functional connectivity of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) has been widely examined, less is known about brain white matter connectivity. The aim of this study was to explore structural network alterations for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with chronic DOC. Eleven DOC patients and 11 sex- and age-matched controls were included in the study. Participants underwent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and T1-weighted structural MRI at 7 tesla (7 T). Graph-theoretical analysis and network-based statistics were used to analyze the group differences. Two patients were scanned twice for a longitudinal study to examine the relationship between connectome metrics and the patients' prognoses. Compared with healthy controls, DOC patients showed significantly elevated transitivity (p < .001), local efficiency (p = .009), and clustering coefficient (p = .039). When comparing the connectome metrics within the three groups (healthy controls, minimally conscious state (MCS), and vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (VS/UWS)), significant group differences were observed in transitivity (p < .001) and local efficiency (p = .031). Significantly increased transitivity was observed in vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome compared with minimally conscious state (p = .0217, Bonferroni corrected). Transitivity showed significant negative correlations with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised score (r = −0.6902, p = .023), consistent with the longitudinal study results. A subnetwork with significantly decreased structural connections was identified using network-based statistical analysis comparing DOC patients with healthy controls, which was mainly located in the frontal cortex, limbic system, and occipital and parietal lobes. This preliminary study suggests that graph theoretical approaches for assessing white matter connectivity may enable various states of DOC to be distinguished. Of the metrics analyzed, transitivity had a critical role in distinguishing the diagnostic groups. Larger cohorts will be necessary to confirm the predictive value of 7 T MRI in the prognosis of DOC patients.

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“…The basal ganglia, composed of striatum, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus (STN) and substantia nigra, are generally involved in a wide range of motor and cognitive processes that operate on the basis of wakefulness. A growing amount of studies start to highlight the importance of cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical network in arousal and consciousness [15][16][17][18] . Recent investigation on the connectivity within the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical network has shown that propofol-induced unconsciousness modulated the pallidal connectivity to the posterior cingulate cortex, suggesting the role of pallido-cortical connectivity in altered states of consciousness 17 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic changes in rhythmic and arrhythmic neural signatures in the subthalamic nucleus induced by anaesthesia and intubation

Huang

Green

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Background: Subcortical structures including the basal ganglia have been proposed to be crucial for arousal, consciousness, and behavioural responsiveness. However, how basal ganglia contributes to the loss and recovery of consciousness during anaesthesia has not been well characterized.Methods: In this study, using local field potentials (LFPs) from subthalamic nucleus (STN) and scalp electroencephalogram in 12 Parkinson's disease patients, we investigate STN neural signatures during propofol general anaesthesia and during intubation as an arousal intervention in anaesthesia. Results:Propofol-induced anaesthesia resulted in changes in multiple frequency bands in STN LFPs, including increased low-frequency activities (slow-wave oscillation, delta, theta, and alpha bands) and decreased higher-frequency activities. This was also accompanied by increased STN-frontal cortical coherence in alpha frequency band. Beta and high-gamma activities in the STN temporally increased during intubation compared to the status of loss of consciousness. We also show that the dynamic changes in the high frequency activities (80-180 Hz) in STN LFPs induced by propofol and intubation correlated with power-law exponent in the power spectra between 2 and 80 Hz. Conclusions:Our findings suggest that anaesthesia and intubation induced changes in the STN LFPs in multiple frequency bands. They are also consistent with the hypothesis that the power-law exponent in the power spectra between 2 and 80 Hz reflect the excitation/inhibition balance in the STN, which is modulated by anaesthesia and intubation, and further modulate the high frequency activity.

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Abnormal structural connectivity between the basal ganglia, thalamus, and frontal cortex in patients with disorders of consciousness

Cited by 63 publications

References 104 publications

Decoding the circuitry of consciousness: From local microcircuits to brain-scale networks

Decoding the circuitry of consciousness: From local microcircuits to brain-scale networks

Structural connectome alterations in patients with disorders of consciousness revealed by 7-tesla magnetic resonance imaging

Dynamic changes in rhythmic and arrhythmic neural signatures in the subthalamic nucleus induced by anaesthesia and intubation

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