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Aberrant Static and Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity in Acute Mild Traumatic Brain Injury with Cognitive Impairment

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate differences in static and dynamic functional network connectivity (FNC) and explore their association with neurocognitive performance in acute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

Methods

A total of 76 patients with acute mTBI and 70 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled (age 43.79 ± 10.22 years vs. 45.63 ± 9.49 years; male/female: 34/42 vs. 38/32; all p > 0.05) and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan (repetition time/echo time = 2000/30 ms, 230 volumes). Independent component analysis was conducted to evaluate static and dynamic FNC patterns on the basis of nine resting-state networks, namely, auditory network (AUDN), dorsal attention network (dAN), ventral attention network (vAN), default mode network (DMN), left frontoparietal network (LFPN), right frontoparietal network (RFPN), somatomotor network (SMN), visual network (VN), and salience network (SN). Spearman’s correlation among aberrances in FNC values, and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scores was further measured in mTBI.

Results

Compared with controls, patients with mTBI showed wide aberrances of static FNC, such as reduced FNC in DMN–vAN and VN–vAN pairs. The mTBI patients exhibited aberrant dynamic FNC in state 2, involving reduced FNC aberrance in the vAN with AUDN, VN with DMN and dAN, and SN with SMN and vAN. Reduced dFNC in the SN–vAN pair was negatively correlated with the MoCA score.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that aberrant static and dynamic FNC at the acute stage may contribute to cognitive symptoms, which not only may expand knowledge regarding FNC cognition relations from the static perspective but also from the dynamic perspective.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82102012, 82102006), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20201118) and 333 High-level Talents Training Project of Jiangsu Province (No. BRA2019122).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, No.68, Changle Road, 210006, Nanjing, China

    Liyan Lu, Fengfang Li, Song’an Shang, Huiyou Chen, Xindao Yin, Wei Gao & Yu-Chen Chen

  2. Department of Neurology, Nanjing Yuhua Hospital, Yuhua Branch of Nanjing First Hospital, 210006, Nanjing, China

    Juan Zhang

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  1. Liyan Lu
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Contributions

LL and JZ are co-first authors of this paper, they designed the experiment, analyzed the data and drafted the paper. FL and SS helped to acquire the clinical and fMRI data. HC and XY helped to revise the paper critically for important intellectual content. WG and YCC are co-corresponding authors of this paper, they did the financial support, reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wei Gao or Yu-Chen Chen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

L. Lu, J. Zhang, F. Li, S. Shang, H. Chen, X. Yin, W. Gao and Y.-C. Chen declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants or on human tissue were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1975 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The current study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Nanjing Medical University. All participants provided written informed consent before undergoing MR imaging.

Additional information

The authors Liyan Lu and Juan Zhang contributed equally to this work. The corresponding authors Wei Gao and Yu-Chen Chen contributed equally to this work.

Consent to Publish: not applicable.

Availability of data and materials: imaging data could be provided upon request.

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Lu, L., Zhang, J., Li, F. et al. Aberrant Static and Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity in Acute Mild Traumatic Brain Injury with Cognitive Impairment. Clin Neuroradiol 32, 205–214 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00062-021-01082-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00062-021-01082-6

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