The volume and structural covariance network of thalamic nuclei in patients with Wilson's disease : an investigation of the association with neurological impairment

© 2023. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia..

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the volumes of thalamic nuclei and the intrinsic thalamic network in patients with Wilson's disease (WDs), and to explore the correlation between these volumes and the severity of neurological symptoms.

METHODS: A total of 61 WDs and 33 healthy controls (HCs) were included in the study. The volumes of 25 bilateral thalamic nuclei were measured using structural imaging analysis with Freesurfer, and the intrinsic thalamic network was evaluated through structural covariance network (SCN) analysis.

RESULTS: The results indicated that multiple thalamic nuclei were smaller in WDs compared to HCs, including mediodorsal medial magnocellular (MDm), anterior ventral (AV), central median (CeM), centromedian (CM), lateral geniculate (LGN), limitans-suprageniculate (L-Sg), reuniens-medial ventral (MV), paracentral (Pc), parafascicular (Pf), paratenial (Pt), pulvinar anterior (PuA), pulvinar inferior (PuI), pulvinar medial (PuM), ventral anterior (VA), ventral anterior magnocellular (VAmc), ventral lateral anterior (VLa), ventral lateral posterior (VLp), ventromedial (VM), ventral posterolateral (VPL), and right middle dorsal intralaminar (MDI). The study also found a negative correlation between the UWDRS scores and the volume of the right MDm. The intrinsic thalamic network analysis showed abnormal topological properties in WDs, including increased mean local efficiency, modularity, normalized clustering coefficient, small-world index, and characteristic path length, and a corresponding decrease in mean node betweenness centrality. WDs with cerebral involvement had a lower modularity compared to HCs.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the majority of thalamic nuclei in WDs exhibit significant volume reduction, and the atrophy of the right MDm is closely related to the severity of neurological symptoms. The intrinsic thalamic network in WDs demonstrated abnormal topological properties, indicating a close relationship with neurological impairment.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:45

Enthalten in:

Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology - 45(2024), 5 vom: 01. Apr., Seite 2063-2073

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Zhang, Bing [VerfasserIn]
Yang, Guang [VerfasserIn]
Xu, Chunyang [VerfasserIn]
Zhang, Rong [VerfasserIn]
He, Xiaogang [VerfasserIn]
Hu, Wenbin [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Freesurfer
Intrinsic thalamic network
Journal Article
Structural covariance network
Thalamic nuclei
Wilson’s disease

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 17.04.2024

Date Revised 17.04.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1007/s10072-023-07245-2

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM365404993