Altered Temporal Dynamics of Brain Activity in Multiple-Frequency Bands in Non-Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients with Inactive Disease

Liheng Chen; Jiawei Sun; Qiaohong Wang; Lingzhen Hu; Yi Zhang; Huibin Ma; Xize Jia; Xuyan Yang

doi:10.2147/NDT.S292302

Altered Temporal Dynamics of Brain Activity in Multiple-Frequency Bands in Non-Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients with Inactive Disease

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2021 May 7:17:1385-1395. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S292302. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Liheng Chen¹, Jiawei Sun^{2

3}, Qiaohong Wang¹, Lingzhen Hu¹, Yi Zhang¹, Huibin Ma^{2

3}, Xize Jia^{4

5}, Xuyan Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rheumatology, Second Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310009, People's Republic of China.
² School of Information and Electronics Technology, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, People's Republic of China.
³ Integrated Medical Research School, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, we seek to investigate dynamic changes of brain activity in non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (non-NPSLE) patients with inactive disease.

Patients and methods: Thirty-one non-NPSLE patients with inactive disease and 20 matched healthy controls underwent the blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI examination. Dynamic regional homogeneity (ReHo) and fractional amplitude of low-frequency ﬂuctuations (fALFF) were used to analyze the brain activity in typical band (0.01-0.08 Hz), slow-4 (0.027-0.073 Hz) and slow-5 (0.01-0.027 Hz). Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to correlate dynamic regional homogeneity (dReHo) and dynamic fractional amplitude of low-frequency ﬂuctuations (dfALFF) values for clusters of voxels where significant group differences were found with clinical variables in non-NPSLE patients with inactive disease.

Results: In typical band, non-NPSLE patients showed increased dReHo in left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) compared to healthy controls. Meanwhile, patients showed decreased dfALFF in right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG) in typical band. In slow-4, increased dReHo in left MOG was found in non-NPSLE patients. In slow-5, non-NPSLE patients showed increased dReHo in left MOG, left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex, right precentral gyrus (PreCG) and left postcentral gyrus (PoCG). Meanwhile, non-NPSLE patients showed decreased dfALFF in left SFG, right MFG, and right PreCG in slow-5. Moreover, the glucocorticoid dose showed significantly negative correlations with dReHo values in right PreCG in slow-5, left PoCG in slow-5, and left MOG in typical band.

Conclusion: dReHo and dfALFF abnormalities in different frequency bands may be the key characteristics in the pathogenesis mechanism of non-NPSLE.

Keywords: dynamic fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations; dynamic regional homogeneity; frequency bands; non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus; resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging; systemic lupus erythematosus.