TY - JOUR
T1 - Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis with Mild Disability
T2 - A Data-Driven, Whole-Brain Multivoxel Pattern Analysis Study
AU - Nair, Gowthami
AU - Nair, Sruthi S.
AU - Arun, Karumattu Manattu
AU - Camacho, Paul
AU - Bava, Elshal
AU - Ajayaghosh, Priya
AU - Menon, Ramshekhar N.
AU - Nair, Muralidharan
AU - Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan
AU - Anteraper, Sheeba Arnold
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2023.
PY - 2023/3/1
Y1 - 2023/3/1
N2 - Background: Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) has emerged as a powerful unbiased approach for generating seed regions of interest (ROIs) in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis in a data-driven manner. Studies exploring RSFC in multiple sclerosis have produced diverse and often incongruent results. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate RSFC differences between people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and healthy controls (HC). Methods: We performed a whole-brain connectome-wide MVPA in 50 RRMS patients with expanded disability status scale ≤4 and 50 age and gender-matched HCs. Results: Significant group differences were noted in RSFC in three clusters distributed in the following regions: anterior cingulate gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, and frontal medial cortex. Whole-brain seed-to-voxel RSFC characterization of these clusters as seed ROIs revealed network-specific abnormalities, specifically in the anterior cingulate cortex and the default mode network. Conclusions: The network-wide RSFC abnormalities we report agree with the previous findings in RRMS, the cognitive and clinical implications of which are discussed herein. This study investigated resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) people with mild disability (expanded disability status scale ≤4). Whole-brain connectome-wide multivoxel pattern analysis was used for assessing RSFC. Compared with healthy controls, we were able to identify three regions of interest for significant differences in connectivity patterns, which were then extracted as a mask for whole-brain seed-to-voxel analysis. A reduced connectivity was noted in the RRMS group, particularly in the anterior cingulate cortex and the default mode network regions, providing insights into the RSFC abnormalities in RRMS.
AB - Background: Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) has emerged as a powerful unbiased approach for generating seed regions of interest (ROIs) in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis in a data-driven manner. Studies exploring RSFC in multiple sclerosis have produced diverse and often incongruent results. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate RSFC differences between people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and healthy controls (HC). Methods: We performed a whole-brain connectome-wide MVPA in 50 RRMS patients with expanded disability status scale ≤4 and 50 age and gender-matched HCs. Results: Significant group differences were noted in RSFC in three clusters distributed in the following regions: anterior cingulate gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, and frontal medial cortex. Whole-brain seed-to-voxel RSFC characterization of these clusters as seed ROIs revealed network-specific abnormalities, specifically in the anterior cingulate cortex and the default mode network. Conclusions: The network-wide RSFC abnormalities we report agree with the previous findings in RRMS, the cognitive and clinical implications of which are discussed herein. This study investigated resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) people with mild disability (expanded disability status scale ≤4). Whole-brain connectome-wide multivoxel pattern analysis was used for assessing RSFC. Compared with healthy controls, we were able to identify three regions of interest for significant differences in connectivity patterns, which were then extracted as a mask for whole-brain seed-to-voxel analysis. A reduced connectivity was noted in the RRMS group, particularly in the anterior cingulate cortex and the default mode network regions, providing insights into the RSFC abnormalities in RRMS.
KW - MVPA
KW - functional connectivity
KW - multiple sclerosis
KW - resting state networks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150432902&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85150432902&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/brain.2021.0182
DO - 10.1089/brain.2021.0182
M3 - Article
C2 - 36006365
AN - SCOPUS:85150432902
SN - 2158-0014
VL - 13
SP - 89
EP - 96
JO - Brain Connectivity
JF - Brain Connectivity
IS - 2
ER -