Zhang Xiao, Chen Xuemei, Qu Chuanyong, Fan Ligen, Zheng Jinou
Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
Neurol Sci. 2025 Jan;46(1):381-391. doi: 10.1007/s10072-024-07730-2. Epub 2024 Aug 27.
The amygdala joins the model of fear neurocircuitry for its subregional roles in processing and mediating panic. This study aims to explore the underlying neuromechanisms of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with ictal panic (IP) by investigating the amygdala subregions functional connectivity (FC) alteration.
18 TLE patients with IP (TLE-IP group), 23 TLE patients without IP (TLE-none-IP group) and 22 age- and sex- matched healthy controls (HC) were enrolled and required to take resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning. The basolateral (BLA), centromedial (CMA), and superficial (SFA) amygdala subregions were extracted from Juelich histological atlas. The amygdala subregions-based FC was computed and compared among three groups.
The TLE-IP group demonstrated stronger FC between the left BLA and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) than the TLE-none-IP group and HC. Compared with the TLE-none-IP group and HC, the TLE-IP group showed increased FC between the right BLA and right postcentral gyrus. The FC between the left BLA/SFA and the orbital part of right MFG increased in the TLE-IP group. Furthermore, the TLE-IP group exhibited decreased FC between the left CMA and pons. Further analysis indicated altered FC between the amygdala subregions and the pons, precuneus and thalamus in the left-sided TLE-IP group, but the MFG, inferior parietal gyrus, supplementary motor area and cerebellum in the right-sided TLE-IP group.
The present study revealed aberrant amygdala subregions-based FC in TLE patients with IP. These findings offer unique insights into the understanding of fear neurocircuitry in TLE patients with IP.
杏仁核因其在处理和介导惊恐方面的亚区域作用而纳入恐惧神经回路模型。本研究旨在通过研究杏仁核亚区域功能连接（FC）改变来探索伴有发作性惊恐（IP）的颞叶癫痫（TLE）患者的潜在神经机制。
纳入18例伴有IP的TLE患者（TLE-IP组）、23例不伴有IP的TLE患者（TLE-无IP组）和22例年龄及性别匹配的健康对照者（HC），并要求他们进行静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）扫描。从尤利希组织学图谱中提取基底外侧（BLA）、中央内侧（CMA）和浅表（SFA）杏仁核亚区域。计算并比较三组之间基于杏仁核亚区域的FC。
TLE-IP组左侧BLA与右侧额中回（MFG）之间的FC比TLE-无IP组和HC更强。与TLE-无IP组和HC相比，TLE-IP组右侧BLA与右侧中央后回之间的FC增加。TLE-IP组左侧BLA/SFA与右侧MFG眶部之间的FC增加。此外，TLE-IP组左侧CMA与脑桥之间的FC降低。进一步分析表明，左侧TLE-IP组杏仁核亚区域与脑桥、楔前叶和丘脑之间的FC改变，但右侧TLE-IP组为MFG、顶下小叶、辅助运动区和小脑。
本研究揭示了伴有IP的TLE患者基于杏仁核亚区域的FC异常。这些发现为理解伴有IP的TLE患者的恐惧神经回路提供了独特的见解。
