Abnormal Ventral Somatomotor Network Homogeneity in Patients With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Dongbin Li; Ruoshi Liu; Lili Meng; Pingan Xiong; Hongwei Ren; Liming Zhang; Yujun Gao

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.877956

Abnormal Ventral Somatomotor Network Homogeneity in Patients With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jun 17:13:877956. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.877956. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Dongbin Li^{1

2}, Ruoshi Liu³, Lili Meng^{4

5}, Pingan Xiong⁶, Hongwei Ren⁷, Liming Zhang¹, Yujun Gao⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
² First Department of Neurology and Neuroscience Center, Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital, Harbin, China.
³ Department of Neurology, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Wuhan Mental Health Center, Wuhan, China.
⁵ Department of Sleep, Wuhan Hospital for Psychotherapy, Wuhan, China.
⁶ Department of Taihe Hospital Reproductive Medicine Center Affiliated To Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
⁷ Department of Medical Imaging, Tianyou Hospital Affiliated To Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Background: Abnormalities of functional connectivity in the somatomotor network have been thought to play an essential role in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. However, there has been no network homogeneity (NH) study about the ventral somatomotor network (VSN) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Therefore, we explored the NH of the VSN in TLE patients in this study.

Methods: The sample included 52 patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy, 83 patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy, and 68 healthy controls. The NH method was utilized to analyze the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data.

Results: Compared to the controls, rTLE patients had significantly higher NH in the bilateral postcentral gyrus, and significantly lower NH in the bilateral Rolandic operculum and the right superior temporal gyrus (STG). The NH values of the left postcentral gyrus were significantly higher in lTLE patients than in the healthy controls, and lTLE patients had lower NH in the right Rolandic operculum. The altered NH in the postcentral gyrus was negatively correlated with the illness duration, and the decreased NH in the left Rolandic operculum was negatively correlated with the executive control reaction time (ECRT).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that altered NH of the postcentral gyrus, Rolandic operculum and STG might be associated with the pathophysiology of TLE, and thus, highlight the contribution of the VSN to the pathophysiology of TLE.

Keywords: executive function; network homogeneity; resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging; temporal lobe epilepsy; ventral somatomotor network.