Increased functional connectivity coupling with supplementary motor area in blepharospasm at rest

Yang Liu; Lu Yang; Haohao Yan; Changqiang Feng; Wenyan Jiang; Wenmei Li; Yiwu Lei; Lulu Pang; Meilan Liang; Wenbin Guo; Shuguang Luo

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148469

Increased functional connectivity coupling with supplementary motor area in blepharospasm at rest

Brain Res. 2023 Oct 15:1817:148469. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148469. Epub 2023 Jun 22.

Authors

Yang Liu¹, Lu Yang², Haohao Yan³, Changqiang Feng², Wenyan Jiang⁴, Wenmei Li⁵, Yiwu Lei⁵, Lulu Pang², Meilan Liang², Wenbin Guo⁶, Shuguang Luo⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China; Department of Neurology, Yancheng City No. 1 People's Hospital, Yancheng, Jiangsu 224001, China.
² Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan, China.
⁴ Department of Intensive Care Unit, Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
⁵ Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan, China. Electronic address: guowenbin76@csu.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China. Electronic address: luoshuguang@stu.gxmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37355150
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148469

Abstract

Objective: To explore the abnormalities of brain function in blepharospasm (BSP) and to illustrate its neural mechanisms by assuming supplementary motor area (SMA) as the entry point.

Methods: Twenty-five patients with BSP and 23 controls underwent resting-state functional MRI, seed-based functional connectivity (FC), correlation analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, and support vector machine (SVM) were applied to process the data.

Results: Patients showed that the left medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), left lingual gyrus, right cerebellar crus I, and right lingual gyrus/cerebellar crus I had enhanced FC with the left SMA, whereas the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) had enhanced FC with the right SMA relative to controls. The FC between the left MPFC and left SMA was positively correlated with symptomatic severity. The ROC analysis verified that the abnormal FCs demonstrated in this study can separate patients and controls at high sensitivity and specificity. SVM analysis exhibited that combined FCs of the left SMA were optimal for distinguishing patients and control group at the accuracy of 89.58%, with sensitivity of 92.00% and specificity of 86.96%.

Conclusions: Several brain networks partake in the neurobiology of BSP. SMA plays a vital role in several brain networks and might be the key pathogenic factor in BSP.

Significance: Providing novel evidence for the engagement of the MPFC in the motor symptoms of BSP, enhancing credibility of the thesis that SMA regulates the neurobiology of BSP, and providing ideas of screening susceptible population of BSP using neuroimaging.

Keywords: Blepharospasm; Network; Resting-state functional MRI; Seed-based functional connectivity; Supplementary motor area.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Adult
Blepharospasm* / diagnostic imaging
Blepharospasm* / physiopathology
Connectome*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Cortex* / diagnostic imaging
Motor Cortex* / physiopathology
Prefrontal Cortex / diagnostic imaging
Prefrontal Cortex / physiopathology
Rest
Support Vector Machine*