Wang Xi, Lu Lu, Liao Meng, Wei Hong, Chen Xiaohang, Huang Xiaoqi, Liu Longqian, Gong Qiyong
Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Laboratory of Optometry and Vision Sciences, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Oct 4;16:923213. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.923213. eCollection 2022.
To investigate cortical differences, age-related cortical differences, and structural covariance differences between children with intermittent exotropia (IXT) and healthy controls (HCs) using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Sixteen IXT patients and 16 HCs underwent MRI using a 3-T MR scanner. FreeSurfer software was used to obtain measures of cortical volume, thickness, and surface area. Group differences in cortical thickness, volume and surface area were examined using a general linear model with intracranial volume (ICV), age and sex as covariates. Then, the age-related cortical differences between the two groups and structural covariance in abnormal morphometric changes were examined.
Compared to HCs, IXT patients demonstrated significantly decreased surface area in the left primary visual cortex (PVC), and increased surface area in the left inferior temporal cortex (ITC). We also found increased cortical thickness in the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), right middle temporal cortex (MT), and right inferior frontal cortex (IFC). No significant differences were found in cortical volume between the two groups. There were several negative correlations between neuroanatomic measurements and age in the HC group that were not observed in the IXT group. In addition, we identified altered patterns of structural correlations across brain regions in patients with IXT.
To our knowledge, this study is the first to characterize the cortical morphometry of the children and adolescents with IXT. Based on our results, children and adolescents with IXT exhibited significant alterations in the PVC and association cortices, different cortical morphometric development patterns, and disrupted structural covariance across brain regions.
使用高分辨率磁共振成像（MRI）研究间歇性外斜视（IXT）儿童与健康对照（HCs）之间的皮质差异、年龄相关的皮质差异以及结构协方差差异。
16例IXT患者和16例HCs使用3-T MR扫描仪进行MRI检查。使用FreeSurfer软件获取皮质体积、厚度和表面积的测量值。使用以颅内体积（ICV）、年龄和性别作为协变量的一般线性模型检查皮质厚度、体积和表面积的组间差异。然后，检查两组之间与年龄相关的皮质差异以及异常形态测量变化中的结构协方差。
与HCs相比，IXT患者左侧初级视觉皮层（PVC）的表面积显著减小，左侧颞下回（ITC）的表面积增加。我们还发现左侧眶额皮层（OFC）、右侧颞中回（MT）和右侧额下回（IFC）的皮质厚度增加。两组之间的皮质体积没有显著差异。在HC组中神经解剖学测量值与年龄之间存在一些负相关，而在IXT组中未观察到。此外，我们确定了IXT患者大脑区域间结构相关性的改变模式。
据我们所知，本研究首次描述了IXT儿童和青少年的皮质形态学特征。根据我们的结果，IXT儿童和青少年在PVC和联合皮质中表现出显著改变，不同的皮质形态学发育模式，以及大脑区域间结构协方差的破坏。
