Bagshaw Andrew P, Hale Joanne R, Campos Brunno M, Rollings David T, Wilson Rebecca S, Alvim Marina K M, Coan Ana Carolina, Cendes Fernando
Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Neuroimage Clin. 2017 Jul 12;16:52-57. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.07.008. eCollection 2017.
The thalamus is crucial for sleep regulation and the pathophysiology of idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE), and may serve as the underlying basis for the links between the two. We investigated this using EEG-fMRI and a specific emphasis on the role and functional connectivity (FC) of the thalamus. We defined three types of thalamic FC: thalamocortical, inter-hemispheric thalamic, and intra-hemispheric thalamic. Patients and controls differed in all three measures, and during wakefulness and sleep, indicating disorder-dependent and state-dependent modification of thalamic FC. Inter-hemispheric thalamic FC differed between patients and controls in somatosensory regions during wakefulness, and occipital regions during sleep. Intra-hemispheric thalamic FC was significantly higher in patients than controls following sleep onset, and disorder-dependent alterations to FC were seen in several thalamic regions always involving somatomotor and occipital regions. As interactions between thalamic sub-regions are indirect and mediated by the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), the results suggest abnormal TRN function in patients with IGE, with a regional distribution which could suggest a link with the thalamocortical networks involved in the generation of alpha rhythms. Intra-thalamic FC could be a more widely applicable marker beyond patients with IGE.
丘脑对于睡眠调节和特发性全身性癫痫（IGE）的病理生理学至关重要，可能是两者之间联系的潜在基础。我们使用脑电图功能磁共振成像（EEG-fMRI）对此进行了研究，并特别强调了丘脑的作用和功能连接（FC）。我们定义了三种类型的丘脑FC：丘脑皮质、半球间丘脑和半球内丘脑。患者和对照组在所有这三种测量中均存在差异，且在清醒和睡眠期间也有差异，这表明丘脑FC存在与疾病相关和与状态相关的改变。半球间丘脑FC在清醒时的体感区域以及睡眠时的枕叶区域中，患者和对照组之间存在差异。睡眠开始后，患者的半球内丘脑FC显著高于对照组，并且在几个丘脑区域观察到了与疾病相关的FC改变，这些区域总是涉及躯体运动和枕叶区域。由于丘脑亚区域之间的相互作用是间接的，并且由抑制性丘脑网状核（TRN）介导，结果表明IGE患者的TRN功能异常，其区域分布可能暗示与参与α节律产生的丘脑皮质网络存在联系。半球内丘脑FC可能是一种比IGE患者更广泛适用的标志物。
