Abnormalities of mirror homotopic connectivity and gray matter volume of brain in patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus: an magnetic resonance imaging study
10.3760/cma.j.cn371468-20250209-00047
- VernacularTitle:神经精神性狼疮患者脑镜像同伦连接及灰质体积异常的磁共振成像研究
- Author:
Yifan LI
1
;
Huayu SHEN
;
Pengxin HU
;
Junyi GAO
;
Jianguo XIA
;
Jinhua CHEN
;
Ji ZHANG
;
Weizhong TIAN
Author Information
1. 南京医科大学附属泰州人民医院影像科，泰州 225300
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Mirror homotopic connectivity;
Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus;
Gray matter volume;
Magnetic resonance imaging
- From:
Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science
2025;34(6):503-509
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the characteristics of resting-state mirror homotopic connectivity and the gray matter volume of brain in patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE).Methods:From June 2020 to March 2023, a total of 35 NPSLE patients (NPSLE group) and 30 non-NPSLE patients (non-NPSLE group) were selected from Taizhou People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, another 31 healthy volunteers were recruited as the healthy controls(HC group). All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) assessments. The patients in NPSLE and non-NPSLE groups were additionally assessed using the fatigue scale for motor and cognitive functions (FSMC) and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS).The DPABI V7.0 toolkit based on the MATLAB platform was used to preprocess the rs-fMRI data and calculate the voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity(VMHC) indexes, and the differences in VMHC between groups were evaluated by covariance analysis in SPM12.0 software, and the VMHC values of brain regions with significant differences were extracted for further comparison between the two groups.Partial correlation analysis was performed to investigate the association between VMHC values and clinical parameters in NPSLE patients.The brain regions with significant differences between NPSLE patients and non-NPSLE patients were used as region of interest (ROI), and gray matter volumes within these ROIs were then calculated by VBM8 toolbox.Results:(1)There were statistically significant differences in the VMHC values of bilateral precentral gyrus, bilateral dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, bilateral medial and paracingulate gyrus, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, bilateral postcentral gyrus, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus among the 3 groups( F=11.246-14.102, all P<0.05). The NPSLE group exhibited significantly lower VMHC values in these regions compared to both the non-NPSLE group and HC group (all P<0.05), but there were no significant differences in these regions between the non-NPSLE group and HC group (all P>0.05).(2) The gray matter volumes of bilateral dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus(right: (0.57±0.11)mm 3, (0.65±0.08)mm 3, t=-3.409, P=0.001; left: (0.53±0.10)mm 3, (0.60±0.07)mm 3, t=-3.082, P=0.003), bilateral precentral gyrus(right: (0.32±0.06)mm 3, (0.35±0.04)mm 3, t=-2.044, P=0.045; left: (0.39±0.06)mm 3, (0.42±0.04)mm 3, t=-2.505, P=0.015), right medial and paracingulate gyrus((0.66±0.08)mm 3, (0.70±0.07)mm 3, t=-2.491, P=0.015) and left superior temporal gyrus((0.57±0.09)mm 3, (0.61±0.06)mm 3, t=- 2.344, P=0.022) in the NPSLE group were smaller than those of non-NPSLE group.(3)Correlation analysis showed that the VMHC value of dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with IgA level in NPSLE patients ( r=0.353, P=0.047). Conclusion:Patients with NPSLE generally have decreased mirror homotopy functional connectivity in the cerebral hemispheres, accompanied by a decrease in gray matter volume in some brain regions, which can provide a certain neuroimaging basis for the pathogenesis of brain injury.
