Liu Xiang, Chen Liting, Duan Wenfeng, Li Haijun, Kong Linghong, Shu Yongqiang, Li Panmei, Li Kunyao, Xie Wei, Zeng Yaping, Peng Dechang
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Apr 25;16:850940. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.850940. eCollection 2022.
The hippocampus is involved in various cognitive function, including memory. Hippocampal structural and functional abnormalities have been observed in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), but the functional connectivity (FC) patterns among hippocampal subdivisions in OSA patients remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in FC between hippocampal subdivisions and their relationship with neurocognitive function in male patients with OSA. Resting-state fMRI were obtained from 46 male patients with untreated severe OSA and 46 male good sleepers. The hippocampus was divided into anterior, middle, and posterior parts, and the differences in FC between hippocampal subdivisions and other brain regions were determined. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships between abnormal FC of hippocampal subdivisions and clinical characteristics in patients with OSA. Our results revealed increased FC in the OSA group between the left anterior hippocampus and left middle temporal gyrus; between the left middle hippocampus and the left inferior frontal gyrus, right anterior central gyrus, and left anterior central gyrus; between the left posterior hippocampus and right middle frontal gyrus; between the right middle hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus; and between the right posterior hippocampus and left middle frontal gyrus. These FC abnormalities predominantly manifested in the sensorimotor network, fronto-parietal network, and semantic/default mode network, which are closely related to the neurocognitive impairment observed in OSA patients. This study advances our understanding of the potential pathophysiological mechanism of neurocognitive dysfunction in OSA.
海马体参与包括记忆在内的各种认知功能。阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）患者已观察到海马体结构和功能异常，但OSA患者海马体各亚区之间的功能连接（FC）模式仍不清楚。本研究的目的是调查男性OSA患者海马体各亚区之间FC的变化及其与神经认知功能的关系。对46名未经治疗的重度OSA男性患者和46名睡眠良好的男性进行了静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）检查。将海马体分为前部、中部和后部，确定海马体各亚区与其他脑区之间FC的差异。采用相关性分析探讨OSA患者海马体各亚区FC异常与临床特征之间的关系。我们的结果显示，OSA组中左侧前海马体与左侧颞中回之间；左侧中海马体与左侧额下回、右侧中央前回和左侧中央前回之间；左侧后海马体与右侧额中回之间；右侧中海马体与左侧额下回之间；以及右侧后海马体与左侧额中回之间的FC增加。这些FC异常主要表现在感觉运动网络、额顶叶网络和语义/默认模式网络中，这些网络与OSA患者中观察到的神经认知损害密切相关。本研究增进了我们对OSA神经认知功能障碍潜在病理生理机制的理解。
