Altered Local Spontaneous Brain Activity in Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy: A Preliminary Resting-State fMRI Study

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the regional synchronization of brain in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Methods. Resting-state fMRI data were acquired from twenty-one patients with JME and twenty-two healthy subjects. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to analyze the spontaneous activity in whole brain. Two-sample t-test was performed to detect the ReHo difference between two groups. Correlations between the ReHo values and features of seizures were calculated further. Key Findings. Compared with healthy controls, patients showed significantly increased ReHo in bilateral thalami and motor-related cortex regions and a substantial reduction of ReHo in cerebellum and occipitoparietal lobe. In addition, greater ReHo value in the left paracentral lobule was linked to the older age of onset in patients. Significance. These findings implicated the abnormality of thalamomotor cortical network in JME which were associated with the genesis and propagation of epileptiform activity. Moreover, our study supported that the local brain spontaneous activity is a potential tool to investigate the epileptic activity and provided important insights into understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of JME.

Altered functional and effective connectivity in anticorrelated intrinsic networks in children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes

“…[37–39] BECTS is a common type of childhood epilepsy. We presumed that the epileptic activity would contribute to the cognitive behavioral defects and abnormal neuroimaging findings in children with BECTS.…”

Multimodal MRI profiling of focal cortical dysplasia type II

“…Increased ReHo in type IIA may reflect enhanced synchronization of local epileptogenic circuits. 30 Such anomalies, reported in other focal syndromes 31,32 and generalized epilepsies, 33 suggest enhanced local connectivity as a common marker of chronic seizure activity. Conversely, decreased ReHo in type IIB may be specific to balloon cells, not necessarily a marker of epileptogenicity.…”

Electroconvulsive Therapy-Induced Brain Structural and Functional Changes in Major Depressive Disorders: A Longitudinal Study

“…Some authors suggest that the increased ReHo value in some parts of the brain might be responsible for seizure genesis and propagation [37,38]. Changes of ReHo in the cortex may reflect dysfunction of the corresponding cortical network associated with a specific disorder [39]. …”