Abstract
Objective
This study explored the dynamic functional connective (DFC)
alterations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and investigated
the correlation between the neuropsychiatric symptoms, peripheral
inflammation and DFC alterations.
Method
Using resting-state functional MRI, we investigated the DFC based on
spatial independent component analysis and sliding window method for 30
patients with RA and 30 healthy controls (HCs). The Spearman correlation
was calculated between aberrant DFC alterations, Montreal Cognitive
Assessment (MoCA), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), C
reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).
Diagnostic efficacy of indicators was assessed using receiver operating
characteristic analysis (ROC).
Results
Three dynamic functional states were identified. Compared with HC,
patients with RA showed reduced FC variabilities between sensorimotor
network (SMN) and insula, SMN and orbitofrontal cortex, which were the
crucial regions of sensory processing network. The above FC
variabilities were correlated with the MoCA, HAD, CRP and ESR in
patients with RA. Additionally, the CRP and ESR were negatively
correlated to MoCA and positively related to HAD in patients with RA.
The ROC analysis results showed that MoCA, HAD and FC variabilities of
the sensory processing network could distinguish patients with RA from
HC and also identify patients with RA with high ESR.
Conclusion
Our findings demonstrated that abnormal DFC patterns in sensory
processing networks in patients with RA were closely associated with
peripheral inflammation and neuropsychiatric symptoms. This indicates
that the dynamic temporal characteristics of the brain functional
network may be potential neuroimaging biomarkers for revealing the
pathological mechanism of RA.
Funder
Natural
Science Foundation of Guangdong
Province
China
Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Guangdong High-level University Development
Program
National
Natural Science Foundation of China
Disciplinary Project of Clinical
Medicine
Shantou
Technology Bureau Science Foundation of
China
Medical
Science and Technology Research Foundation of Guangdong Province
of China
Science
and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong
Province