Impaired Interhemispheric Synchrony in Bronchial Asthma

Abstract

Purpose

Converging evidence demonstrated that bronchial asthma (BA) individuals with hypoxia were associated with functional and morphological reorganization in the brain. However, the alterations of the interhemispheric functional connectivity in BA individuals remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the interhemispheric functional connectivity changes in individuals with hypoxia due to middle-aged BA using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) methods.

Methods

In total, 31 BA individuals and 30 healthy controls (HCs) closely matched in age, sex, and education underwent resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. VMHC analysis was performed to investigate differences in interhemispheric functional connectivity between the two groups. Then, a seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis was conducted to further reveal the abnormal functional connectivity between the altered VMHC regions and the whole brain.

Results

Compared with HCs, BA individuals had significantly lower VMHC values in the bilateral basal ganglia/thalamus/insula, cuneus/calcarine/lingual gyrus, precentral and postcentral gyrus. [voxel level P < 0.01, Gaussian random field (GRF) correction, cluster level P < 0.05]. Taking VMHC altered brain areas as seed points, the rsFC values of left insula/supramarginal/postcentral gyrus (PostCG)/inferior parietal lobule (IPL) brain areas in BA were increased.

Conclusion

The abnormal resting-state functional connectivity of middle-aged BA is altered in specific brain regions related to the basal ganglia network, visual network, and sensorimotor network, which may be related to the neuropathogenesis of asthma patients. Furthermore, these VMHC and FC values may be important clinical indicators for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma patients.

Keywords:

• bronchial asthma
• voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity
• functional magnetic resonance imaging
• basal ganglia network
• visual network
• sensorimotor network

Data Sharing Statement

MRI data used to support the results of this study are available on request from the corresponding authors.

Ethical Statements

All research methods were approved by the Ethics Committee of People’s Hospital affiliated Nanchang University. Informed consent was obtained from all participants before MRI scanning, and the research methods complied with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Acknowledgments

Thank you very much to Dr. Xiaorong Wu and Dr. Jun Wang for their guidance on the content of this article. Thanks to Dr. Xin HUANG for his charts and diagrams of the typesetting of pictures and texts. Thanks to Jie Rao for proofreading and modification of the article language. Thanks to Na Wu, Ling Shi, Hui Huang, Siyu Li, Xiaolin Chen, Shuiqin Huang, Peipei Zhong for their responsibility to clinical trials and data processing. Thank you for the support of NSFC, etc. Yajun Wu and Jie Rao are co-first authors for this study.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising, or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82160207, 81760179, 81360151); Health Development Planning Commission Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (No. 20185118); Key research plan of Jiangxi Provincial Science and Technology Department (No.20192BBG70042); Key projects of Jiangxi Youth Science Fund (No.20202ACBL216008). National Natural Science Foundation of China (82160006); the Jiangxi Provincial Cultivation Program for Academic and Technical Leaders of Major Subjects (20172BCB22025); the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Fund Project (20202BAB206003).