Functional connectivity of paired default mode network subregions in patients with eye trauma.

Aim: To study functional brain abnormalities in patients with eye trauma (ET) and to discuss the pathophysiological mechanisms of ET.

Methods: Totally 31 ET patients and 31 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The age, gender, and educational background characteristics of the two groups were similar. After functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, the subjects' spontaneous brain activity was evaluated with the functional connectivity (FC) method. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to classify the data. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between FC values in specific brain regions and clinical behaviors in patients with ET.

Results: Significantly increased FC between several regions was identified including the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and left hippocampus formations (HF), the MPFC and left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), the left IPL and left medial temporal lobe (MTL), the left IPL and right MTL, and the right IPL and left MTL. No decreased region-to-region connectivity was detected in default mode network (DMN) sub-regions in patients with ET. Compared with HCs, ET patients exhibited significantly increased FC between several paired DMN regions, as follows: posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and right HF (HF.R, t=2.196, P=0.032), right inferior parietal cortices (IPC.R) and left MTL (MTL.L, t=2.243, P=0.029), and right MTL (MTL.R) and HF.R (t=2.236, P=0.029).

Conclusion: FC values in multiple brain regions of ET patients are abnormal, suggesting that these brain regions in ET patients may be dysfunctional, which may help to reveal the pathophysiological mechanisms of ET.