Resting-state fMRI in primary Sjögren syndrome

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurology
• Rheumatology

Background:

• Central nervous system (CNS) involvement in primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS) is debated.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) offers a novel approach to study CNS involvement in pSS.
• Regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis via fMRI can reveal brain activity patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate neurobiological mechanisms of CNS involvement in pSS.
• To compare brain activity between pSS patients and healthy controls using fMRI.
• To elucidate the role of ReHo in pSS-related neurological changes.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 14 clinically diagnosed pSS patients and 14 age/gender-matched healthy controls.
• Acquired resting-state fMRI data from all participants.
• Analyzed fMRI data using ReHo analysis and compared groups with a double sample t-test.

Main Results:

• pSS patients showed significantly increased ReHo in the right cerebrum, left limbic lobe, right middle temporal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobe.
• Significantly decreased ReHo was observed in pSS patients within the right lingual gyrus, left cuneiform lobe, left superior occipital gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, and fronto-parietal junction.
• Statistical significance was set at P < 0.01 with clusters ≥ 50 voxels.

Conclusions:

• pSS patients exhibit abnormal brain activity patterns in specific cortical regions.
• The visual cortex and fronto-parietal junction areas show altered neuronal function in pSS.
• fMRI-based ReHo analysis provides insights into the neuropathophysiology of primary Sjögren syndrome.