Qiao Jianping, Wang Zhishun, Xin Jiaxiang, Wang Shengjun, Li Anning
School of Physics and Electronics, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China.
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
Front Immunol. 2025 Jul 4;16:1623577. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1623577. eCollection 2025.
Anti-LGI1 encephalitis is associated with disruptions in large-scale brain network functionality. Although hippocampal atrophy has been structurally characterized, the morphometric patterns of subcortical structures and their surface deformations remain poorly understood. We therefore investigated the shape abnormalities of subcortical structures and their morphological correlations in patients with anti-LGI1 encephalitis.
This study included 31 patients diagnosed with anti-LGI1 encephalitis and 31 group-matched healthy controls. The mesh-based shape method was performed on the fifteen segmented subcortical structures for vertex-wise analyses. Permutation method based on general linear model was applied for statistical group comparison. Associations with disease severity and cognitive impairment were assessed in the patients. The volumetric representations of these subcortical structures were also estimated. Correlations between subcortical shape alterations and disease severity were explored.
Significant inward shape deformations were observed in the limbic system and basal ganglia in patients with anti-LGI1 encephalitis compared to healthy controls. Moreover, correlation analyses revealed that greater inward shape indices in the hippocampus and thalamus were associated with increased disease severity and poorer cognitive functioning, underscoring the pathological significance of these morphological alterations.
These findings indicate that precisely localized subcortical shape deformations are associated with disease severity and cognitive impairment, suggesting widespread damage of limbic system and basal ganglia in anti-LGI1 encephalitis.
抗LGI1脑炎与大规模脑网络功能紊乱有关。尽管海马萎缩已在结构上得到表征，但皮质下结构的形态计量模式及其表面变形仍知之甚少。因此，我们研究了抗LGI1脑炎患者皮质下结构的形状异常及其形态学相关性。
本研究纳入31例诊断为抗LGI1脑炎的患者和31例年龄匹配的健康对照。对15个分割的皮质下结构进行基于网格的形状分析，以进行逐顶点分析。采用基于一般线性模型的置换法进行统计学组间比较。在患者中评估与疾病严重程度和认知障碍的相关性。还估计了这些皮质下结构的体积表现。探讨了皮质下形状改变与疾病严重程度之间的相关性。
与健康对照相比，抗LGI1脑炎患者的边缘系统和基底神经节观察到明显的向内形状变形。此外，相关分析显示，海马体和丘脑更大的向内形状指数与疾病严重程度增加和认知功能较差有关，强调了这些形态学改变的病理意义。
这些发现表明，精确局部化的皮质下形状变形与疾病严重程度和认知障碍有关，提示抗LGI1脑炎中边缘系统和基底神经节存在广泛损伤。
