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Published on: September 27, 2024
Enhanced Gray Matter Volume Compensates for Decreased Brain Activity in the Ocular Motor Area in Children with
Weizhao Lu1, Xueliang Yu2, Lisheng Zhao3
1Medical Engineering and Technology Research Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Tai'an, Shandong, China.
Insights
Pediatric anisometropic amblyopia (PAA) patients show reduced brain activity in the superior temporal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. Increased cerebellar gray matter volume may compensate for these functional changes in PAA.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Pediatric ophthalmology
- Brain plasticity
Background:
- Anisometropic amblyopia (AA) in children causes monocular vision deficits.
- Neuroimaging reveals structural and functional brain changes in pediatric AA (PAA).
- The link between these structural and functional brain alterations in PAA is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between structural and functional brain alterations in pediatric anisometropic amblyopia (PAA) patients.
- To explore how brain structure and function are interconnected in children with PAA.
Main Methods:
- Multimodal MRI (T1WI and fMRI) was performed on 18 PAA patients and 14 healthy children.
- Voxel-based morphometry assessed structural differences; regional homogeneity (ReHo) analyzed local brain activity.
- Correlations between structural, functional changes, and clinical data were examined in PAA patients.
Main Results:
- PAA patients had reduced ReHo in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) compared to controls.
- PAA patients exhibited increased gray matter volume in the right cerebellar lobules 4 and 5.
- Cerebellar gray matter volume negatively correlated with MFG ReHo in PAA patients.
Conclusions:
- PAA involves structural and functional brain abnormalities in regions processing oculomotor and visual-spatial information.
- Increased cerebellar gray matter volume may indicate compensatory mechanisms or neural plasticity in PAA.
- Findings suggest a potential compensatory role of structural changes for functional deficits in PAA.
Purpose:
Anisometropic amblyopia usually occurs during early childhood and results in monocular visual deficit. Recent neuroimaging studies have demonstrated structural and functional alterations in pediatric anisometropic amblyopia (PAA) patients. However, the relationship between structural and functional alterations remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between structural and functional alterations in PAA patients.
Materials And Methods:
Eighteen PAA patients and 14 healthy children underwent a multimodal MRI scanning including T1WI and functional MRI (fMRI). Voxel-based morphometry was used to assess structural alterations between PAA patients and healthy children. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to investigate changes in local spontaneous brain activity in the enrolled subjects. Correlations between structural, functional alterations, and clinical information were analyzed in the PAA group.
Results:
Compared with healthy children, PAA patients exhibited significantly reduced ReHo of spontaneous brain activity in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and increased gray matter volume in the right lobules 4 and 5 of the cerebellum. The gray matter volume of the right lobules 4 and 5 of the cerebellum was negatively correlated with the ReHo values of the right MFG.
Conclusions:
Our findings may suggest that PAA patients experience structural and functional abnormalities in brain regions related to oculomotor and visual-spatial information. In addition, the increased gray matter volume may compensate the decreased brain activity in the oculomotor regions, which reflects compensatory or neural plasticity in PAA patients.
