Abstract
This study investigated the aberrant connectivity of the salience network (SN) and default mode network (DMN) and the relevance between these abnormalities and symptom improvement in hyperthyroid patients using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses were performed on state fMRI data to reveal possible differences in critical node connectivity in the SN and DMN between 41 new-onset, untreated hyperthyroid patients and 41 healthy controls. Subsequently, follow-up data were available for 25 patients treated with methimazole for one month. Compared with the healthy controls, the patients exhibited abnormal internetwork FC from the SN to the DMN and the executive control network (ECN) and decreased intra-network FC within the SN. Relative to the hyperthyroid state, the antithyroid therapy induced reversible connectivity of the left insula to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex(dACC)and ECN, and persistently increased connectivity between the SN and DMN in patients with improved thyroid function. Finally, Pearson’s correlation analyses were performed among the abnormal FC, neuropsychological assessment and serum free triiodothyronine(FT3)level data. The results indicated that aberrant intra- and internetwork FC in the SN and DMN might underlie the pathogenesis of hyperthyroidism, and antithyroid treatment could regulate the FC of certain key brain regions within the SN and DMN in hyperthyroid patients.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Clinical Research Item of XinQiao Hospital in China (2016YLC08). We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the participants for their valuable help in collecting these data, and we thank Prof. Lian Duan at the Endocrinology Department of XinQiao Hospital for his assistance in recruiting the hyperthyroid patients.
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B.L. contributed to the performance of the experiments, data analysis and the writing of the manuscript. L.W. designed the experiment and revised the manuscript. Q.R contributed to the data analysis and writing of the manuscript. S.Z and H.J contributed to the data analysis and manuscript revision. M.G contributed to the data analysis and the manuscript revision. D.Z was the guarantor of this study and had complete access to all data in the study. The authors accept responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
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The investigation was approved by the local Medical Research Ethics Committee of the Xinqiao Hospital (Chong Qing, China) and was performed in accordance with the admissive regulations.
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Liu, B., Wen, L., Ran, Q. et al. Dysregulation within the salience network and default mode network in hyperthyroid patients: a follow-up resting-state functional MRI study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 14, 30–41 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9961-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9961-6