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. 2016 Jun;95(24):e3893.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000003893.

Aberrant long-range functional connectivity density in generalized tonic-clonic seizures

Ling Zhu  1 , Yibo Li, Yifeng Wang, Rong Li, Zhiqiang Zhang, Guangming Lu, Huafu Chen
Affiliations

Aberrant long-range functional connectivity density in generalized tonic-clonic seizures

Ling Zhu et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jun.

Erratum in

  • Erratum: Medicine, Volume 95, Issue 24: Erratum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Aug 7;95(31):e5074. doi: 10.1097/01.md.0000490009.39850.74. eCollection 2016 Aug. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016. PMID: 31265618 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Studies in generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) have reported both structural and functional alterations in the brain. However, changes in spontaneous neuronal functional organization in GTCS remain largely unknown.In this study, 70 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy characterized by tonic-clonic seizures and 70 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. Here, functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping, an ultrafast data-driven method based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), was applied for the first time to investigate the changes of spontaneous functional brain activity caused by epilepsy.The results showed significantly decreased long-range FCD in the middle and inferior temporal, prefrontal, and inferior parietal cortices as well as increased long-range FCD in the cerebellum anterior lobe and sensorimotor areas. Negative correlation between duration of disease and reduced long-range FCD was found. In addition, most regions with reduced long-range FCD showed decreased resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) within default mode network.Negative correlation between duration of disease and long-range FCD may reflect an adverse consequence eventually from original. Furthermore, the observed FCD and rsFC alterations have been speculated to be associated with the social-cognitive impairments as well as motor control. Our study provided novel evidences to look into neuro-pathophysiological mechanisms underlying GTCS.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. All authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Spatial distribution of short-range FCD in patients with GTCS and HCs. There is no significant statistical difference between the 2 groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spatial distribution of long-range FCD in patients with GTCS and HCs and the statistical differences between the 2 groups. The statistical significance of group differences was corrected by AlphaSim (P < 0.05, a combined threshold of P < 0.01 with a minimum cluster size of 224 voxels). The left hemisphere is on the left.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Statistical significance of rsFC patterns for each seed region (middle and inferior temporal gyrus (MTG and ITG), medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and superior frontal gyrus (SFG)) with significant group differences in long-range FCD between GTCS and HCs. Each result is displayed on 3 “brains” shown from the right (top left image of each group), from behind (top right image of each group), and from above (bottom left image of each group). Warm and cool colors indicate that rsFC increases and decreases, respectively, in patients with GTCS.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Correlations between duration of disease (years) and long-range FCD in the left medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), middle and inferior temporal gyrus (MTG and ITG), as well as angular gyrus (ANG). The long-range FCD values in the figure were extracted from the significant clusters after age, gender, and frame-wise displacement of each subject were regressed out. More details of these regions are described in Table 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Supplementary concepts