Exploring brain mechanisms underlying Gulf War Illness with group ICA based analysis of fMRI resting state networks

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

卷:701

Article

Gopinath, Kaundinya S.¹  Sakoglu, Unal²  Crosson, Bruce A.^3,4,5  Haley, Robert W.⁶ 

[1] Emory Univ, Dept Radiol & Imaging Sci, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA

[2] Univ Houston Clear Lake, Dept Comp Engn, Houston, TX 77058 USA

[3] Atlanta VA Med Ctr, VA RR&D Ctr Visual & Neurocognit Rehabil 151R, 1670 Clairmont Rd, Decatur, GA 30033 USA

[4] Emory Univ, Sch Med, Dept Neurol, Atlanta, GA 30322 USA

[5] Georgia State Univ, Dept Psychol, Univ Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30303 USA

[6] Univ Texas Southwestern Med Ctr Dallas, Dept Internal Med, Div Epidemiol, Dallas, TX 75390 USA

关键词: Gulf War Illness;    Neurotoxic;    Resting state fMRI;    Independent components analysis;    Functional connectivity;    Brain function networks;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neulet.2019.02.041

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Around 200,000 veterans (up to 32% of those deployed) of the 1991 Gulf War (GW) suffer from GW illness (GWI), which is characterized by multiple deficits in cognitive, affective, sensory and nociception domains. In this study we employed resting state fMRI (rsfMRI) to map impairments in brain function in GWI with advanced network analysis. RsfMRI data was obtained from 60 GWI veterans and 30 age-matched military controls. Group independent component analysis (GICA) was conducted to probe the functional connectivity networks in all 90 subjects. GICA revealed impaired functional connectivity (FC) in GWI veterans between a number of brain function networks consistent with their self-reported symptoms. GWI veterans exhibited impaired FC between language networks, and sensory input networks of all modalities as well as motor output networks. GWI veterans also exhibited impaired FC between different sensory perception and motor networks, and between different networks in the sensorimotor domain. These FC impairments provide putative mechanism of central nervous system dysfunction in GWI.

【 授权许可】

Free