Altered intrinsic functional connectivity of the salience network in childhood absence epilepsy

Cheng Luo; Tianhua Yang; Shipeng Tu; Jiayan Deng; Dongbo Liu; Qifu Li; Li Dong; Ilan Goldberg; Qiyong Gong; Dan Zhang; Dongmei An; Dong Zhou; Dezhong Yao

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2014.02.016

Altered intrinsic functional connectivity of the salience network in childhood absence epilepsy

J Neurol Sci. 2014 Apr 15;339(1-2):189-95. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2014.02.016. Epub 2014 Feb 24.

Authors

Cheng Luo¹, Tianhua Yang², Shipeng Tu¹, Jiayan Deng¹, Dongbo Liu¹, Qifu Li³, Li Dong¹, Ilan Goldberg⁴, Qiyong Gong⁵, Dan Zhang¹, Dongmei An², Dong Zhou⁶, Dezhong Yao⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
² Department of Neurology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
³ Department of Neurology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical College, China.
⁴ Neuropsychiatry Lab, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
⁵ Huaxi MR Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
⁶ Department of Neurology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. Electronic address: zhoudong66@yahoo.de.
⁷ Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. Electronic address: dyao@uestc.edu.cn.

PMID: 24642509
DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2014.02.016

Abstract

Intrinsic connectivity analysis provides an original way for evaluating functional impairments in epilepsy. Disturbances in the salience network (SN) have been positing an important interplay in disorders of consciousness and attention. This study aims to assess the intrinsic connectivity of the SN in childhood absence epilepsy (CAE). Resting state fMRI was performed in 21 patients with CAE and 21 healthy controls. The SN was extracted using group independent component analysis with dual-regression. Intrinsic functional integration was evaluated through voxelwise comparisons between patients and controls. Patients showed a decreased functional integration of the SN in the right anterior insula, anterior temporoparietal junction, and bilateral dorsolateral frontal cortex and increased connectivity in the anterior and middle cingulate gyrus and caudate nuclei. A leftward lateralization was observed in the anterior insula and anterior temporoparietal junction in CAE. Moreover, the lateralized index in the anterior insula was significantly correlated with the duration of epilepsy. These results support the disturbance of intrinsic activity in the SN which may be linked to the interruption of salient information processing and associated with the attentional dysfunction in CAE. Our findings demonstrate the potential value of intrinsic activity in the SN for the investigation of attention process and may help to better understand the association between intrinsic activity in the SN and consciousness.

Keywords: Absence seizures; Epilepsy; Functional MRI; Independent component analysis; Intrinsic connectivity network; Salience network.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attention / physiology*
Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
Child
Epilepsy, Absence / diagnosis*
Epilepsy, Absence / physiopathology*
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Nerve Net / physiology*