Abnormal Functional Connectivity Of Amygdala Subregions In Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea:A Resting-state FMRI Study

Objective:The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are abnormal functional connectivity(FC) between the amygdala subregions and other brain areas in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) and whether such abnormalities FC are related to emotional disorders and cognitive impairment in severe OSA,and to explore the potential pathogenesis of OSA.Methods:The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) data of 40 male severe OSA patients and 40 matched healthy controls(HCs) were collected.Then,using three subregions of amygdala as regions of interest(ROI),the FC based on voxel was obtained by DPABI software.Next,we used two independent-sample t-tests to analyze differences in the FC maps among the groups.Finally,,the relationship between the clinical and neuropsychological scores with the abnormal FC was analyzed,to study the relationship between OSA and some clinical indexes Results:Compared with the HCs,the OSA patients showed significantly increased FC between the left dorsal amygdala(DA) and the anterior lobe of the cerebellum,among the left ventrolateral amygdala(VA),the left inferior frontal gyrus(IFG) and the left superior temporal gyrus(STG),and between the right VA and the left IFG.However,significantly decreased FC was observed between the right DA and the right prefrontal cortex(PFC) in OSA patients.No regional differences in FC were found between the OSA patients and HCs in the bilateral medial amygdala(MA).In OSA patients,the FC between the left DA and anterior lobe of the cerebellum(including the vermis 4/5) showed a positive correlation with the ODI(r = 0.359,p =0.023).Otherwise,the FC between the left VA and the left IFG showed a negative correlation with visuospatial/executive scores and the maximum pause time(r =-0.389,p = 0.013;r =-0.322,p = 0.043,respectively).Conclusion:In this study,we studied the FC of the amygdala subregions in HCs and male severe OSA patients by using resting-state FC method based on ROI-seed.Compared with HCs,the FC of the amygdala subregions in male severe OSA patients is more complex and different,which may provide a new theoretical basis for us to further understand the neuroimaging mechanism of OSA.There were also significant differences in FC pattern between different amygdala subregions,abnormal FC was found in bilateral DA and VA subregions,while no abnormal FC existed in bilateral MA subregions,which maybe the OSA causes selective damage to different amygdala subregions.Abnormal FC between the amygdala subregions and some brain regions may be associated with emotional and cognitive impairment in OSA patients.