AUTHOR=Wei Wuzeng , Wang Tao , Abulizi Tuersong , Li Bing , Liu Jun 

TITLE=Altered Coupling Between Resting-State Cerebral Blood Flow and Functional Connectivity Strength in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2021.713520

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2021.713520

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Abstract
Background: Respective changes in regional neural activity changes and functional connectivity in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) patients have been reported. However, the alterations of resting-state cerebral blood flow (CBF) and coupling between CBF and functional connectivity in CSM patients remain largely unknown.
Methods: Resting-state functional MRI and arterial spin labeling imaging were performed in 27 CSM patients and 24 sex\age-matched healthy participants to calculate functional connectivity strength (FCS) and to compute CBF respectively. The CBF-FCS coupling of the whole gray matter and region-wise CBF-FCS coupling (the correlation coefficients between CBF and connectivity strength) were compared between two groups.
Results: Whole gray matter CBF-FCS coupling was decreased in CSM patients relative to healthy controls. In CSM patients, the decreased CBF-FCS coupling was located in superior frontal gyrus, bilateral thalamus and right calcarine cortex, increased CBF-FCS coupling was located in middle frontal gyrus. Moreover, the decreased CBF and increased FCS were also shown in sensorimotor cortices and visual cortices in CSM patients.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the neurovascular decoupling in the brain may be a possible neuropathological mechanism of CSM.