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Difference in regional neural fluctuations and functional connectivity in Crohn’s disease: a resting-state functional MRI study

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Abstract

Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) are shown to have abnormal changes in brain structures. This study aimed to further investigate whether these patients have abnormal brain activities and network connectivity. Sixty patients with CD and 40 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) were used to assess differences in spontaneous regional brain activity and functional connectivity. Compared to the HCs, patients with CD showed significantly higher ALFF values in hippocampus and parahippocampus (HIPP/paraHIPP), anterior cingulate cortex, insula, superior frontal cortex and precuneus. The ALFF values were significantly lower in secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), precentral gyrus, and medial prefrontal cortex. Functional connectivities between left HIPP and left inferior temporal cortex, and right middle cingulate cortex, HIPP, and fusiform area were significantly lower. The functional connectivities between right HIPP and right inferior orbitofrontal cortex and left HIPP were also significantly lower. Patients with CD showed higher or lower spontaneous activity in multiple brain regions. Altered activities in these brain regions may collectively reflect abnormal function and regulation of visceral pain and sensation, external environmental monitoring, and cognitive processing in these patients. Lower functional connectivity of the hippocampus-limbic system was observed in these patients. These findings may provide more information to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of the disease.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr. Lili Ma at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University for endoscopy examination and scoring. This work was funded by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 program), No. 2009CB522900, 2015CB554501; the Program for Outstanding Medical Academic Leader, No. 80; the Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader, No. 17XD1403400, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81471738 and the National Institutes of Health grant (P20GM103472).

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  1. Chunhui Bao and Peng Liu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Immunological Effects, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Chunhui Bao, Luyi Wu, Di Wang & Huangan Wu

  2. Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710071, China

    Peng Liu & Jie Tian

  3. Outpatient Department, Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Huirong Liu & Yin Shi

  4. Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Xiaoming Jin

  5. Department of Gastroenterology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Xiaoqing Zeng

  6. Department of Radiology, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Jianye Zhang

  7. The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Vince D. Calhoun

  8. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Vince D. Calhoun

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  1. Chunhui Bao
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  2. Peng Liu
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  4. Xiaoming Jin
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  7. Xiaoqing Zeng
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  8. Jianye Zhang
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  12. Huangan Wu
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Correspondence to Huirong Liu or Huangan Wu.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Bao, C., Liu, P., Liu, H. et al. Difference in regional neural fluctuations and functional connectivity in Crohn’s disease: a resting-state functional MRI study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 12, 1795–1803 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9850-z

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