Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 22:13:895186.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.895186. eCollection 2022.

Alterations in Spontaneous Neuronal Activity and Microvascular Density of the Optic Nerve Head in Active Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy

Affiliations

Alterations in Spontaneous Neuronal Activity and Microvascular Density of the Optic Nerve Head in Active Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy

Pingyi Zhu et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate changes in local spontaneous brain activity in patients with active thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) and explore the relationship between such alterations and microvascular indices.

Methods: Thirty-six active TAO patients with active phase and 39 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), neuropsychological tests, and ophthalmological examinations. The rs-fMRI-based fractional low-frequency fluctuation amplitude (fALFF) analysis methods were used to assess spontaneous brain activity in both groups. The structure (peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer, pRNFL) and microvascular indices (the optic nerve head (ONH) whole image vessel density, ONH-wiVD, and peripapillary vessel density) were analyzed through optical coherence tomographic angiography imaging. The relationship between abnormal spontaneous brain activity and ophthalmological indices was analyzed using the Spearman's rank correlation analysis.

Results: Compared with HCs, active TAO patients had increased fALFF in the right inferior temporal gyrus (R.ITG) and left posterior cingulate gyrus (L.PCC), but decreased fALFF in the right calcarine (R.CAL). The fALFF values in L.PCC were positively correlated with peripapillary vessel density, whereas fALFF values in R.CAL were negatively related to peripapillary vessel density.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that changes in spontaneous brain activity of active TAO are accompanied by peripapillary microvascular variations. These results provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of active TAO. In addition, the combination of fALFF values and peripapillary vessel density may be served as important references for better clinical decision making.

Keywords: active thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy; fMRI; fractional low-frequency fluctuation amplitude; optical coherence tomography angiography; resting state.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative OCT-A image between two groups. Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness image in healthy eye (A) and active TAO (B) eyes. Optic nerve head whole image vessel density and peripapillary vessel density map in healthy eye (C) and active TAO (D) eyes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
In comparison with HCs, active TAO patients showed decreased fALFF in the right calcarine.
Figure 3
Figure 3
In comparison with HCs, active TAO patients showed increased fALFF in the right inferior temporal gyrus.
Figure 4
Figure 4
In comparison with HCs, active TAO patients showed increased fALFF in the left posterior cingulate gyrus.
Figure 5
Figure 5
In active TAO group, the fALFF values in L.PCC were positively correlated with peripapillary vessel density (r = 0.354, p = 0.002).
Figure 6
Figure 6
In active TAO group, the fALFF values in R.CAL were negatively correlated with peripapillary vessel density (r = -0.249, p = 0.031).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Yu L, Jiao Q, Cheng Y, Zhu Y, Lin Z, Shen X. Evaluation of Retinal and Choroidal Variations in Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography. BMC Ophthalmol (2020) 20:421. doi: 10.1186/s12886-020-01692-7 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen W, Wu Q, Chen L, Zhou J, Chen HH, Xu XQ, et al. . Aberrant Brain Voxel-Wise Resting State fMRI in Patients With Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy. J Neuroimaging (2021) 31:773–83. doi: 10.1111/jon.12858 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blum Meirovitch S, Leibovitch I, Kesler A, Varssano D, Rosenblatt A, Neudorfer M. Retina and Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness in Eyes With Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy. Isr Med Assoc J (2017) 19:277–81. - PubMed
    1. Smith TJ, Janssen J. Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Receptor and Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy. Endocr Rev (2019) 40:236–67. doi: 10.1210/er.2018-00066 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bahn RS. Graves’ Ophthalmopathy. N Engl J Med (2010) 362:726–38. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0905750 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources