Xing Xiang-Xin, Hua Xu-Yun, Zheng Mou-Xiong, Wu Jia-Jia, Huo Bei-Bei, Ma Jie, Ma Zhen-Zhen, Li Si-Si, Xu Jian-Guang
School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
J Pain Res. 2021 Mar 11;14:693-701. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S289165. eCollection 2021.
Numerous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) researches have indicated that large-scale functional and structural remodeling occurs in the whole brain despite an intact sensorimotor network after carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Investigators aimed to explore alterations of the global and nodal properties that occur in the whole brain network of patients with CTS based on topographic theory.
Standard-compliant fMRI data were collected from 27 patients with CTS in bilateral hands and 19 healthy control subjects in this cross-sectional study. The statistics based on brain networks were calculated the differences between the patients and the healthy. Several topological properties were computed, such as the small-worldness, nodal clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, and degree centrality.
Compared to those of the healthy controls, the global properties of the CTS group exhibited a decreased characteristic path length. Changes in the local-level properties included a decreased nodal clustering coefficient in 6 separate brain regions and significantly different degree centrality in several brain regions that were related to sensorimotor function and pain.
The study suggested that CTS reinforces global connections and makes their networks more random. The changed nodal properties were affiliated with basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits and the pain matrix. These results provided new insights for improving our understanding of abnormal topological theory in relation to the functional brain networks of CTS patients.
This article presents that the CTS patients' brain with a higher global efficiency. And the significant alterations in several brain regions which are more related to pain and motor processes. The results provided effective complements to the neural mechanisms underlying CTS.
大量静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究表明，尽管腕管综合征（CTS）患者的感觉运动网络完好，但全脑仍会发生大规模的功能和结构重塑。研究人员旨在基于拓扑理论探索CTS患者全脑网络中全局和节点属性的变化。
在这项横断面研究中，收集了27例双侧手部患有CTS的患者和19名健康对照者符合标准的fMRI数据。计算基于脑网络的统计学指标，以比较患者与健康对照者之间的差异。计算了几个拓扑属性，如小世界属性、节点聚类系数、特征路径长度和度中心性。
与健康对照者相比，CTS组的全局属性表现为特征路径长度缩短。局部水平属性的变化包括6个不同脑区的节点聚类系数降低，以及几个与感觉运动功能和疼痛相关的脑区的度中心性存在显著差异。
该研究表明，CTS增强了全局连接并使网络更趋随机。变化的节点属性与基底神经节-丘脑-皮质回路和疼痛矩阵有关。这些结果为增进我们对CTS患者功能性脑网络异常拓扑理论的理解提供了新见解。
本文提出CTS患者的大脑具有更高的全局效率。并且几个与疼痛和运动过程更相关的脑区有显著改变。这些结果为CTS潜在的神经机制提供了有效补充。
