Abstract
Using multi-frequency magnetoencephalography (MEG) data, we investigated whether the effective connectivity (EC) network of patients with childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is altered during the inter-ictal period in comparison with healthy controls. MEG data from 13 untreated CAE patients and 10 healthy controls were recorded. Correlation analysis and Granger causality analysis were used to construct an EC network at the source level in eight frequency bands. Alterations in the spatial pattern and topology of the network in CAE were investigated by comparing the patients with the controls. The network pattern was altered mainly in 1–4 Hz, showing strong connections within the frontal cortex and weak connections in the anterior–posterior pathways. The EC involving the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PC/PCC) significantly decreased in low-frequency bands. In addition, the parameters of graph theory were significantly altered in several low- and high-frequency bands. CAE patients display frequency-specific abnormalities in the network pattern even during the inter-ictal period, and the frontal cortex and PC/PCC might play crucial roles in the pathophysiology of CAE. The EC network of CAE patients was over-connective and random during the inter-ictal period. This study is the first to reveal the frequency-specific alteration in the EC network during the inter-ictal period in CAE patients. Multiple-frequency MEG data are useful in investigating the pathophysiology of CAE, which can serve as new biomarkers of this disorder.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the patients and their families for their time and support; the physicians and fellows at NBH and Nanjing Children’s Hospital for assistance in patient recruitment and MEG recording; and the MEG Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for helping with MEG data analysis. This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81471324, http://npd.nsfc.gov.cn/), the Key Project of Medical Science and Technology Development Foundation (Grant No. ZKX11002, http://www.njh.gov.cn/html/list_83.shtml), the Fourth Phase of Jiangsu “Project 333” Scientific Research Funding Schemes, 2013, the Health Department of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. H201443) and the Nanjing Medical University General Programs (Grant No. 2014NJMU050 and Grant No. 2015NJMU109).
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Wu, C., Xiang, J., Jiang, W. et al. Altered Effective Connectivity Network in Childhood Absence Epilepsy: A Multi-frequency MEG Study. Brain Topogr 30, 673–684 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-017-0555-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-017-0555-1