Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China.
Neurosci Lett. 2012 Jan 17;507(1):5-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.11.033. Epub 2011 Dec 8.
Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has facilitated the study of spontaneous brain activity by measuring low-frequency oscillations in blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals. Analyses of regional homogeneity (ReHo), which reflects the local synchrony of neural activity, have been used to reveal the mechanisms underlying the brain dysfunction in various neuropsychiatric diseases. However, it is not known whether the ReHo is altered in cirrhotic patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). We recruited 18 healthy controls and 18 patients with MHE. The ReHo was calculated to assess the strength of the local signal synchrony. Compared with the healthy controls, the patients with MHE had significantly decreased ReHo in the cuneus and adjacent precuneus, and left inferior parietal lobe, whereas the regions showing increased ReHo in patients with MHE included the left parahippocampal gyrus, right cerebellar vermis, and bilateral anterior cerebellar lobes. We found a positive correlation between the mean ReHo in the cuneus and adjacent precuneus and the score on the digit-symbol test in the patient group. In conclusion, the analysis of the regional homogeneity of resting-state brain activity may provide additional information with respect to a clinical definition of MHE.
静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）通过测量血氧水平依赖信号中的低频振荡，促进了对自发性脑活动的研究。区域同质性（ReHo）分析反映了神经活动的局部同步性，已被用于揭示各种神经精神疾病中脑功能障碍的机制。然而，尚不清楚最小程度肝性脑病（MHE）的肝硬化患者的 ReHo 是否发生改变。我们招募了 18 名健康对照者和 18 名 MHE 患者。计算 ReHo 以评估局部信号同步性的强度。与健康对照组相比，MHE 患者的楔前叶和相邻的楔前叶以及左顶下叶的 ReHo 显著降低，而 MHE 患者的 ReHo 增加的区域包括左海马旁回、右小脑蚓部和双侧小脑前叶。我们发现患者组楔前叶和相邻楔前叶的平均 ReHo 与数字符号测试评分之间存在正相关。总之，静息态脑活动的区域同质性分析可能为 MHE 的临床定义提供额外的信息。
