Wen Zhi, Kang Yan, Zhang Yu, Yang Huaguang, Xie Baojun
Department of Radiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University.
State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan.
Neuroreport. 2023 Apr 5;34(6):315-322. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000001894. Epub 2023 Mar 6.
Idiopathic congenital nystagmus (CN) is a rare eye disease that can cause early blindness (EB). CN deficits are observed most frequently with oculomotor dysfunction; however, it is still unclear what neuromechanics underly CN with EB. Based on that visual experience requires the functional integration of both hemispheres, we hypothesized that CN adolescents with EB might exhibit impaired interhemispheric synchrony. Our study aimed to investigate the interhemispheric functional connectivity alterations using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) and their relationships with clinical features in CN patients.
This study included 21 patients with CN and EB, and 21 sighted controls (SC), who were matched for sex, age and educational level. The 3.0 T MRI scan and ocular examination were performed. The VMHC differences were examined between the two groups, and the relationships between mean VMHC values in altered brain regions and clinical variables in the CN group were evaluated by Pearson correlation analysis.
Compared with the SC group, the CN had increased VMHC values in the bilateral cerebellum posterior and anterior lobes/cerebellar tonsil/declive/pyramis/culmen/pons, middle frontal gyri (BA 10) and frontal eye field/superior frontal gyri (BA 6 and BA 8). No particular areas of the brain had lower VMHC values. Furthermore, no correlation with the duration of disease or blindness could be demonstrated in CN.
Our results suggest the existence of interhemispheric connectivity changes and provide further evidence for the neurological basis of CN with EB.
特发性先天性眼球震颤（CN）是一种罕见的眼病，可导致早期失明（EB）。CN缺陷最常伴有眼球运动功能障碍；然而，导致伴有EB的CN的神经力学机制仍不清楚。基于视觉体验需要两个半球的功能整合这一观点，我们假设患有EB的CN青少年可能存在半球间同步受损。我们的研究旨在使用体素镜像同伦连接（VMHC）研究半球间功能连接的改变及其与CN患者临床特征的关系。
本研究纳入21例患有CN和EB的患者以及21名视力正常的对照者（SC），他们在性别、年龄和教育水平上相匹配。进行了3.0T磁共振成像扫描和眼部检查。检查两组之间的VMHC差异，并通过Pearson相关分析评估CN组中大脑改变区域的平均VMHC值与临床变量之间的关系。
与SC组相比，CN组在双侧小脑后叶和前叶/小脑扁桃体/斜坡/锥体/山顶/脑桥、额中回（BA 10）以及额叶眼区/额上回（BA 6和BA 8）的VMHC值增加。大脑没有特定区域的VMHC值降低。此外，在CN组中未发现与疾病持续时间或失明存在相关性。
我们的结果表明存在半球间连接变化，并为伴有EB的CN的神经学基础提供了进一步的证据。
