Background: Several neuroimaging studies demonstrated that optic neuritis (ON) leads to functional and anatomical architecture changes in the brain. The alterations of interhemispheric functional connectivity (IFC) in patients with AQP4-ON and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-ON are not well understood.
Purpose: To investigate the differential patterns of VMHC in patients with AQP4-ON and MOG-ON.
Material and methods: Twenty-one patients with AQP4-ON, 11 patients with MOG-ON, and 34 healthy controls underwent resting-state MRI scans. One-way ANOVA was used to identify regions in which the zVMHC differed among the three groups. Post hoc two-sample t-tests were then conducted to compare zVMHC values between pairs of groups. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to reveal relationships between mean zVMHC values and clinical variables in the AQP4-ON and MOG-ON groups.
Results: The results revealed significant differences in zVMHC values in the PreCG among the three groups. Compared to the control group: the AQP4-ON group showed significantly lower VMHC values in the superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and PreCG; and the MOG-ON group showed significantly higher zVMHC values in the PostCG. Compared to the AQP4-ON group, the MOG-ON group showed significantly lower zVMHC values in the PreCG/PostCG (voxel-level P<0.01, GRF correction, cluster-level P<0.05).
Conclusion: Patients with AQP4-ON and those with MOG-ON showed abnormal VMHC in the motor cortices, sensorimotor cortices, and frontal lobe, possibly indicating impaired sensorimotor function in patients with ON. Moreover, differential patterns of VMHC in patients with AQP4-ON, compared to patients with MOG-ON, might serve as a clinical indicator for classification of ON.
Keywords: Anti-aquaporin-4 antibody; anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody; interhemispheric functional connectivity; optic neuritis; resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging; voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity.