Altered neural connectivity of Somatosensory and Motor cortex in patients with Atopic Dermatitis
Poster No:
1558
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Da-Eun Yoon1, Seoyoung Lee1, Jundong Kim1, Kyuseok Kim1, Hi-Joon Park1, In-Seon Lee1, YOUN BYOUNG CHAE1
Institutions:
1Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
As Atopic dermatitis (AD) patients experience chronic itch and pain, it's been hypothesized that their intrinsic brain networks are different from healthy controls (HC). Acupuncture treatment was reported as a safe intervention which can be effective at improving AD. We aimed to explore the alterations of functional connectivity (FC) patterns of resting-state (rs) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data and further investigate the effects of acupuncture on clinical and neural changes in patients with AD.
Methods:
This study investigates changes in brain function among patients with AD through a combined randomized controlled trial and a cross-sectional component. Healthy subjects were recruited for comparison with patients. AD patients were randomly assigned to either verum acupuncture (VA) (n=28) or sham acupuncture (SA) (n=13) groups. Symptom assessments and neuroimaging scans were conducted at pre-treatment and post-treatment stages. Symptom severity was measured using the SCORAD scale, with responders defined as those showing an improvement of more than 8.7 in SCORAD score.
Seed-based functional connectivity was calculated with forty functional regions of interest (ROIs) of the pre-defined regions of the default mode network and somatosensory-motor network. The two-sample t-test was performed to identify the differences in FC between HC and pre-treatment AD patients. Paired t-tests of FC were performed to compare the changes of before and after acupuncture treatment in VA and SA group, and also in responder and non-responder group. Pearson's correlation analyses were performed to examine the correlations between the severity of symptoms and neural indices of pre-treatment AD patients.
Seed-based functional connectivity was calculated with forty functional regions of interest (ROIs) of the pre-defined regions of the default mode network and somatosensory-motor network. The two-sample t-test was performed to identify the differences in FC between HC and pre-treatment AD patients. Paired t-tests of FC were performed to compare the changes of before and after acupuncture treatment in VA and SA group, and also in responder and non-responder group. Pearson's correlation analyses were performed to examine the correlations between the severity of symptoms and neural indices of pre-treatment AD patients.
Results:
Forty HC and forty-one AD patients participated in the study. Among twenty patients who finished the treatment, nine were defined as responders. Major differences in AD patients compared with HC were found in the right somatosensory and motor processing regions. The significant differences were observed in five seeds including right primary motor cortex (M1), primary somatosensory cortex (S1), inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), left S1 and superior parietal area (SPL) (Figure 1). No significant difference was observed in the pre- and post-treatment FC of AD patients in either VA and SA groups at the significance level of α < 0.05 (error-corrected). However, decreased connectivity was observed between the seed of right S1 and the regions of bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), precuneus, middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and right postcentral gyrus at the significance level of α < 0.08 (error-corrected) in the responder group only after the treatment (Figure 2A).
Correlation analyses revealed a significant positive correlation (r= 0.65, p=0.0068, Bonferroni-corrected) between the mean FC of the right S1 and the left SMA with the SCORAD score in pre-treatment patients. After the treatment, positive correlation was observed in the changes of FC between the right S1 and left SMA and the changes of SCORAD value in patients (r=0.41, p=0.028, uncorrected) (Figure 2B). This indicate that the patients with more severe symptom have greater connectivity between the right S1 and left SMA, and this connectivity has decreased as the symptoms have improved.
Correlation analyses revealed a significant positive correlation (r= 0.65, p=0.0068, Bonferroni-corrected) between the mean FC of the right S1 and the left SMA with the SCORAD score in pre-treatment patients. After the treatment, positive correlation was observed in the changes of FC between the right S1 and left SMA and the changes of SCORAD value in patients (r=0.41, p=0.028, uncorrected) (Figure 2B). This indicate that the patients with more severe symptom have greater connectivity between the right S1 and left SMA, and this connectivity has decreased as the symptoms have improved.
·Functional connectivity differences between atopic dermatitis patients and healthy controls
·Functional connectivity changes after the acupuncture treatment in responder group
Conclusions:
In summary, the study identified significant differences in functional connectivity between AD patients and healthy controls, particularly in somatosensory and motor regions. While there was no significant change in connectivity before and after acupuncture treatment, the responder group exhibited decreased connectivity in S1 seed with lower level of significance. Correlation analyses revealed associations between symptom severity and changes in functional connectivity in AD patients. Our findings underscore altered patterns of functional connectivity and suggest potential clinical significance for somatosensory regions in AD patients.
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) 1
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Perception: Tactile/Somatosensory 2
Keywords:
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Pain
Somatosensory
Other - Itch
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Schram, M. E., et al (2012), "EASI,(objective) SCORAD and POEM for atopic eczema: responsiveness and minimal clinically important difference." Allergy 67.1 (2012): 99-106.
Power, Jonathan D., et al (2011), "Functional network organization of the human brain." Neuron 72.4 (2011): 665-678.