| PART I STRUCTURAL COVARIANCE NETWORK OF CORTICAL GYRIFICATION IN BENIGN CHILDHOOD EPILEPSY WITH CENTROTEMPORAL SPIKESObjective:Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes(BECTS)is associated with cognitive and language problems.According to recent studies,disruptions in brain structure and function in children with BECTS are beyond a Rolandic focus,suggesting atypical cortical development.However,previous studies utilizing surface-based metrics(e.g.,cortical gyrification)and their structural covariance networks at high resolution in children with BECTS are limited.Methods:Twenty-six children with BECTS(15 males/11 females;10.35 ± 2.91 years)and 26 demographically matched controls(15 males/11 females;11.35 ± 2.51 years)were included in this study and subjected to high-resolution structural brain MRI scans.The gyrification index was calculated,and structural brain networks were reconstructed based on the co-variance of the cortical folding.Results:In the BECTS group,significantly increased gyrification was observed in the bilateral Sylvain fissures and the left pars triangularis,temporal,rostral middle frontal,lateral orbitofrontal,and supramarginal areas(cluster-corrected p<0.05).Global brain network measures were not significantly different between the groups;however,the nodal alterations were most pronounced in the insular,frontal,temporal,and occipital lobes(FDR-corrected,p<0.05).In children with BECTS,brain hubs increased in number and tended to shift to sensorimotor and temporal areas.Furthermore,we observed significantly positive relationships between the gyrification index and age(vertex p<0.001,cluster-level correction)as well as duration of seizures(vertex p<0.001,cluster-level correction).Conclusion:Our results suggest that BECTS may be a condition that features congenital(fetal or early postnatal periods)over-folding of the Sylvian fissures and subsequent uncoordinated development of structural wiring,disrupted nodal profiles of centrality,and shifted hub distribution,which potentially represents a neuroanatomical hallmark of BECTS in the developing brain.PART Ⅱ ALTERED DEGREE CENTRALITY IN BENIGN CHILDHOOD EPILEPSY WITH CENTROTEMPORAL SPIKES:A RESTING-STATE FMRI STUDYObjective:Modern network studies have suggested that the functional architecture of brain is a complex and dynamic interaction network.The node configuration and dynamic interaction of the functional network was affected by abnormal development and discharge.Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)is considered as one of the most important non-invasive measures for study of human brain function.Therefore,this study aims to investigate how individual nodes(hub regions)within network framework are affected in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes(BECTS)using degree centrality(DC),both with static as well as the temporal variation(dynamic)versions.These measures can help to understand the abnormal brain network configuration of BECTS and the network information communication dynamics in a period of time,and then understood how BECTS shapes the distribution and temporal variation of resting state spontaneous activities.Methods:Twenty-six children with BECTS(15 males/11 females;10.35 ± 2.91 years)and 26 demographically matched controls(15 males/11 females;11.35 ± 2.51 years)were included in this study and subjected to resting-state fMRI scanning with GE 3.0T HDxt MRI scanner in Zunyi medical college affiliated hospital.rs-fMRI data processing and analysis were performed using DPARSF_V3.0 as implemented in MATLAB7.6 and SPM8 software,the processing included initial preprocessing(format conversion,remove first 10 time points,slice timing,realign,normalization,smooth,detrend and filter),functional connectivity matrix construction of whole brain at voxel-wise level(the default threshold correlation coefficient r=0.25),and positive binary as well as positive weighted adjacency matrix construction.Finally,6mm spatial smoothing and z-normalization were used to calculate the traditional static and temporal variations of degree centrality(DC)based on the hamming temporal window.Finally,the within-group analysis and between-group two-sample t-tests statistical analyses were performed.Results:DC maps were obtained by calculating the mean DC values in each voxel across all subjects for each group,respectively.As the individual DC maps was a z-score map,and was only calculated within the grey matter mask,voxels within white matter showed negative values.The spatial distribution of DC maps showed broad similarities during visual inspection of the two groups.Compared with healthy controls,the results obtained from the two-sample t-test clearly showed significant static DC between the two groups.BECTS patients showed increased binary and weighted in the same brain region,including bilateral calcarine cortex,bilateral occipital middle cortex,right fusiform cortex.BECTS patients also showed decreased binary in right inferior temporal cortex,left cerebellum crus,left cerebellum cortex and left superior parietal lobule cortex.BECTS patient also showed decreased weighted in right inferior temporal cortex,left inferior parietal,left cerebellum crus,left cerebellum and left precuneus.In additional,compared with healthy controls,the results obtained from the two-sample t-test clearly showed significant differences in dynamic DC between the two groups.BECTS patients showed increased binary in bilateral precuneus cortex and right superior temporal cortex;BECTS patients showed decreased binary in right inferior temporal cortex.However,BECTS patients showed increased weighted in bilateral precuneus and right superior temporal cortex,left thalamus and left angular.BECTS patients showed decreased weighted right fusiform cortex,right inferior frontal trianguleris cortex and left inferior temporal cortex.Conclusion:Our results suggested the selective and specific disruption of hub nodes,especially precuneus and the highly connected brain regions within DMN,might underlie the pathophysiological mechanism of BECTS. |
PDF Full Text Request