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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Peter TaylorORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2023 The Author(s) Background: Structural and functional neuroimaging studies often overlook lower basal ganglia structures located in and adjacent to the midbrain due to poor contrast on clinically acquired T1-weighted scans. Here, we acquired T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and resting-state fMRI scans to investigate differences in volume, estimated myelin content and functional connectivity of the substantia nigra (SN), subthalamic nuclei (SubTN) and red nuclei (RN) of the midbrain in IGE. Methods: Thirty-three patients with IGE (23 refractory, 10 non-refractory) and 39 age and sex-matched healthy controls underwent MR imaging. Midbrain structures were automatically segmented from T2-weighted images and structural volumes were calculated. The estimated myelin content for each structure was determined using a T1-weighted/T2-weighted ratio method. Resting-state functional connectivity analysis of midbrain structures (seed-based) was performed using the CONN toolbox. Results: An increased volume of the right RN was found in IGE and structural volumes of the right SubTN differed between patients with non-refractory and refractory IGE. However, no volume findings survived corrections for multiple comparisons. No myelin alterations of midbrain structures were found for any subject groups. We found functional connectivity alterations including significantly decreased connectivity between the left SN and the thalamus and significantly increased connectivity between the right SubTN and the superior frontal gyrus in IGE. Conclusions: We report volumetric and functional connectivity alterations of the midbrain in patients with IGE. We postulate that potential increases in structural volumes are due to increased iron deposition that impacts T2-weighted contrast. These findings are consistent with previous studies demonstrating pathophysiological abnormalities of the lower basal ganglia in animal models of generalised epilepsy.
Author(s): McKavanagh A, Ridzuan-Allen A, Kreilkamp BAK, Chen Y, Manjon JV, Coupe P, Bracewell M, Das K, Taylor PN, Marson AG, Keller SS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Epilepsy and Behavior
Year: 2023
Volume: 140
Print publication date: 01/03/2023
Online publication date: 24/01/2023
Acceptance date: 01/01/2023
Date deposited: 09/02/2023
ISSN (print): 1525-5050
ISSN (electronic): 1525-5069
Publisher: Academic Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2023.109084
DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2023.109084
PubMed id: 36702054
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