Abstract
Abstract
Objective
To identify the potential diagnostic biomarkers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and assess the relation between visuospatial dysfunction and disease activity in RA patients using mental rotation task (MRT)-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Methods
A total of 27 RA patients (11 in remission, 16 in active) and 27 well-matched controls were enrolled. The visuospatial function of the subjects was measured by MRT. Brain activity data were collected using blood oxygen level dependent fMRI technique under MRT. Disease activity score 28 (DAS28) was used to evaluate the disease severity of RA patients. An analysis of the correlations between abnormal visuospatial-related brain regions, MRT performance, and DAS28 was conducted.
Results
RA patients performed worse on MRT than controls. Compared to the control group, RA patients showed enhanced activation in the left precuneus, left superior frontal gyrus and right cingulate gyrus during the rotation task, with left hemisphere dominance. RA patients in active showed enhanced activation in the left precuneus, left middle frontal gyrus and right cingulate gyrus compared to the patients in remission. The left precuneus activation was negatively correlated with MRT accuracy (r = −0.621, p = 0.01) and positively correlated with DAS28 (r = 0.710, p = 0.002), and MRT accuracy was negatively correlated with DAS28 in RA patients (r = −0.702, p = 0.002).
Conclusion
Enhanced activation of the left precuneus in RA patients affects visuospatial function and is closely related to disease activity. These changes may provide a valuable diagnostic neuroimaging biomarker of RA.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Medical Science and Technology Research Foundation of Guangdong Province of China
Shantou Technology Bureau Science Foundation of China
Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province
Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province
Grant for Key Disciplinary Project of Clinical Medicine under the Guangdong High-level University Development Program
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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