Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, 430022, China.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 5;13(1):16775. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44090-x.
Ménière's disease (MD) is associated with functional reorganization not only in the auditory or sensory cortex but also in other control and cognitive areas. In this study, we examined intranetwork and internetwork connectivity differences between 55 MD patients and 70 healthy controls (HC) in 9 well-defined resting-state networks. Functional connectivity degree was lower in MD compared to HC in 19 brain areas involved in the somatomotor, auditory, ventral attention, default mode, limbic, and deep gray matter networks. In addition, we observed lower intranetwork connectivity in the auditory, ventral attention, and limbic networks, as well as lower internetwork connectivity between the somatomotor and limbic networks, and between the auditory and somatomotor, deep gray matter, and ventral attention networks, and between the deep gray matter and default mode network. Furthermore, we identified 81 pairs of brain areas with significant differences in functional connectivity between MD patients and HC at the edge level. Notably, the left amygdala's functional connectivity degree was positively correlated with MD's disease stage, and the ventral attention network's intranetwork connectivity was positively correlated with the healthy side vestibular ratio. Our findings suggest that these functional network reorganization alterations may serve as potential biomarkers for predicting clinical progression, evaluating disease severity, and gaining a better understanding of MD's pathophysiology. Large-scale network studies using neuroimaging techniques can provide additional insights into the underlying mechanisms of MD.
梅尼埃病（MD）不仅与听觉或感觉皮层有关，而且与其他控制和认知区域有关。在这项研究中，我们在 9 个定义明确的静息状态网络中检查了 55 名 MD 患者和 70 名健康对照者（HC）之间的内部网络和互联网连接的差异。与 HC 相比，MD 患者在 19 个涉及躯体运动、听觉、腹侧注意力、默认模式、边缘和深部灰质网络的大脑区域的功能连接程度较低。此外，我们观察到听觉、腹侧注意力和边缘网络的内部网络连接降低，躯体运动和边缘网络之间、听觉和躯体运动、深部灰质和腹侧注意力网络之间、以及深部灰质和默认模式网络之间的互联网连接降低。此外，我们在 MD 患者和 HC 之间的边缘水平上识别出 81 对大脑区域的功能连接存在显著差异。值得注意的是，左侧杏仁核的功能连接程度与 MD 的疾病阶段呈正相关，而腹侧注意力网络的内部网络连接与健康侧前庭比呈正相关。我们的研究结果表明，这些功能网络重组的改变可能作为预测临床进展、评估疾病严重程度和更好地理解 MD 病理生理学的潜在生物标志物。使用神经影像学技术的大规模网络研究可以提供对 MD 潜在机制的更多了解。
