Department of Medical Imaging, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
Department of Orthopedics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
Eur J Neurosci. 2024 Oct;60(8):5831-5848. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16531. Epub 2024 Sep 4.
Previous studies have suggested that the morphology and function of the thalamus and cortex are abnormal in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). However, whether the thalamocortical network is differentially affected in this disorder is unknown. In this study, we examined functional and effective connectivity between the thalamus and major divisions of the cortex in 27 healthy controls and 27 KOA patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We also explored the topological features of the brain via graph theory analysis. The results suggested that patients with KOA had significantly reduced resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the thalamo-sensorimotor pathway; enhanced rsFC of the thalamo-medial/lateral frontal cortex (mFC/LFC), parietal, temporal and occipital pathways; reduced effective connectivity of the left sensorimotor-to-thalamus pathway; and enhanced effective connectivity of the right thalamus-to-sensorimotor pathway compared with healthy controls. The functional connectivity of the thalamo-sensorimotor and thalamo-mFC pathways was enhanced when patients performed the multisource interference task. Moreover, patients with KOA presented altered nodal properties associated with thalamocortical circuits, including the thalamus, amygdala, and regions in default mode networks, compared with healthy controls. The correlation analysis suggested a significant negative correlation between thalamo-mFC rsFC and pain intensity, between thalamo-sensorimotor task-related connectivity and disease duration/depression scores, and a positive correlation between right frontal nodal properties and pain intensity in KOA patients. Taken together, these findings establish abnormal and differential alterations in the thalamocortical network associated with pain characteristics in KOA patients, which extends our understanding of their role in the pathophysiology of KOA.
先前的研究表明，膝骨关节炎（KOA）患者的丘脑和皮层的形态和功能异常。然而，在这种疾病中，丘脑皮质网络是否受到不同的影响尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们使用功能磁共振成像检查了 27 名健康对照者和 27 名 KOA 患者的丘脑与大脑主要分区之间的功能和有效连接。我们还通过图论分析探索了大脑的拓扑特征。结果表明，KOA 患者静息状态下丘脑感觉运动通路的功能连接（rsFC）显著降低；丘脑内侧/外侧额皮质（mFC/LFC）、顶叶、颞叶和枕叶通路的 rsFC 增强；左侧感觉运动到丘脑通路的有效连接降低；与健康对照组相比，右侧丘脑到感觉运动通路的有效连接增强。当患者执行多源干扰任务时，丘脑感觉运动和丘脑 mFC 通路的功能连接增强。此外，与健康对照组相比，KOA 患者的丘脑皮质回路相关节点属性发生改变，包括丘脑、杏仁核和默认模式网络区域。相关性分析表明，KOA 患者的丘脑 mFC rsFC 与疼痛强度呈显著负相关，丘脑感觉运动任务相关连接与疾病持续时间/抑郁评分呈负相关，右额节点属性与疼痛强度呈正相关。总之，这些发现确定了与 KOA 患者疼痛特征相关的丘脑皮质网络的异常和差异改变，扩展了我们对其在 KOA 病理生理学中的作用的理解。
