He J H, Cui Y, Song M, Yang Y, Dang Y Y, Jiang T Z, Xu R X
Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Army General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
Acta Neurol Scand. 2015 Mar;131(3):145-51. doi: 10.1111/ane.12299. Epub 2014 Sep 28.
Interactions between the thalamus and the cortex play an important role in consciousness. The thalamus as a homogenous structure is less strongly connected with the default mode network (DMN) in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), but the roles of specific thalamic nuclei are not clear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional connectivity between individual thalamic nuclei and the DMN in DOC patients.
Nine DOC patients and nine age-matched healthy controls were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at resting state. Data-driven independent component analysis and hypothesis-driven region of interest-based correlation analysis were performed.
In comparison with healthy controls, DOC patients had significantly decreased functional connectivity between the mediodorsal thalamus and brain areas within the DMN, including the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus. Patients and controls did not show significant differences in functional connectivity in other thalamic nuclei.
Our results suggest that functional connections between the mediodorsal thalamus and the DMN may play important roles in the pathogenesis of DOC.
丘脑与皮层之间的相互作用在意识中起着重要作用。丘脑作为一个同质结构，在意识障碍（DOC）患者中与默认模式网络（DMN）的连接较弱，但特定丘脑核团的作用尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨DOC患者个体丘脑核团与DMN之间的功能连接。
对9例DOC患者和9例年龄匹配的健康对照者进行静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描。进行了数据驱动的独立成分分析和基于假设驱动的感兴趣区域相关性分析。
与健康对照相比，DOC患者丘脑背内侧核与DMN内脑区（包括内侧前额叶皮层和后扣带回皮层/楔前叶）之间的功能连接显著降低。患者和对照在其他丘脑核团的功能连接上没有显著差异。
我们的结果表明，丘脑背内侧核与DMN之间的功能连接可能在DOC的发病机制中起重要作用。
