Functional Connectivity Density With Frequency-dependent Changes In Patients With Diffuse Axonal Injury: A Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Purpose: We explored changes in spontaneous brain connectivity in patients with diffuse axonal injury(DAI),assessed via functional connectivity density(FCD)tests using different frequency bands.Then the relationships between the FCD values and clinical scales were analyzed.Methods: In all,23 patients with DAI(17 males and 6 females),and 23 healthy controls(HCs;17 males and 6 females)were included.Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed when the participants were in a resting state and the FCD levels in three frequency bands(slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz,slow-5:0.01–0.027 Hz,and typical: 0.01–0.08 Hz)were measured(voxel level P<0.01 and a cluster level of P<0.05 based on Gaussian random field theory)In addition,Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to explore the relationship between clinical indices and brain regions with abnormal FCD values.Results: Compared to HCs,DAI patients had significantly greater FCD values in the right extranuclear/limbic lobe/cingulate gyrus and left limbic lobe/hippocampus/parahippocampalgyrus,and significantly lower FCD values in the left precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus,in the slow-4 band.In the slow-5 band,the DAI patients had higher FCD values in the left inferior temporal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus,left parahippocampalgyrus/limbic lobe,left extranuclear/cingulate gyrus,and right medial frontal gyrus,and lower values in the right inferior frontal gyrus,right inferior parietal lobule,and left cingulate gyrus/limbic lobe.Moreover,compared to HCs,the values in the typical band were higher in the right extranuclear/limbic lobe/hippocampus/parahippocampalgyrus,but were significantly lower in the right precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule/supramarginal gyrus.The abnormal FCD values of these brain regions were linearly correlated with different clinical scale scores.Conclusion: DAI patients had abnormal FCD values in various brain regions,indicating disruption to the brain functional network.Moreover,the values were frequency-dependent.Our results provide new evidence for the pathogenesis of functional impairment and may explain the neuropathological or compensatory mechanism of the disease.