Vergence eye movements are the inward and outward rotation of the eyes responsible for binocular coordination. While studies have mapped and investigated the neural substrates of vergence, it is not well understood whether vergence eye movements evoke the blood oxygen level-dependent signal reliably in separate experimental visits. The test–retest reliability of stimulus-induced vergence eye movement tasks during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment is important for future randomized clinical trials (RCTs). In this study, we established region of interest (ROI) masks for the vergence neural circuit. Twenty-seven binocularly normal young adults participated in two functional imaging sessions measured on different days on the same 3T Siemens scanner. The fMRI experiments used a block design of sustained visual fixation and rest blocks interleaved between task blocks that stimulated eight or four vergence eye movements. The test–retest reliability of task-activation was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and that of spatial extent was assessed using the Dice coefficient. Functional activation during the vergence eye movement task of eight movements compared to rest was repeatable within the primary visual cortex (ICC = 0.8), parietal eye fields (ICC = 0.6), supplementary eye field (ICC = 0.5), frontal eye fields (ICC = 0.5), and oculomotor vermis (ICC = 0.6). The results demonstrate significant test–retest reliability in the ROIs of the vergence neural substrates for functional activation magnitude and spatial extent using the stimulus protocol of a task block stimulating eight vergence eye movements compared to sustained fixation. These ROIs can be used in future longitudinal RCTs to study patient populations with vergence dysfunctions.

中文翻译：

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功能磁共振成像激活对发散眼动任务的重测可靠性。

散瞳眼动是负责双眼协调的眼睛的向内和向外旋转。尽管研究已经绘制并研究了趋散性的神经底物，但人们尚不完全了解，趋散性眼动是否能够在单独的实验访问中可靠地唤起依赖于血氧水平的信号。在功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）实验期间，刺激诱发的收敛性眼球运动任务的重测可靠性对于未来的随机临床试验（RCT）非常重要。在这项研究中，我们为收敛神经回路建立了感兴趣区域（ROI）蒙版。二十七名双眼正常年轻人参加了两次功能成像会议，分别在同一天使用同一台3T Siemens扫描仪进行了测量。功能磁共振成像实验使用了持续视觉固定的模块设计，并且在任务模块之间插入了休息模块，从而刺激了八到四次发散的眼睛运动。使用类内相关系数（ICC）评估任务激活的重测可靠性，并使用Dice系数评估空间范围的重试可靠性。与静止时相比，八次运动的散瞳眼运动任务期间的功能激活在主视觉皮层（ICC = 0.8），顶眼视野（ICC = 0.6），辅助眼视野（ICC = 0.5），额眼视野（ICC）内是可重复的= 0.5）和动眼ver（ICC = 0.6）。结果表明，与持续固定相比，使用刺激八种散瞳眼动的任务块刺激方案，散瞳神经基质在ROI中对于功能激活幅度和空间范围具有显着的重测可靠性。这些ROI可用于将来的纵向RCT中，以研究具有散度功能障碍的患者人群。