AUTHOR=Shu Yongqiang , Huang Yuying , Chen Jingting , Chen Liting , Cai Guoqian , Guo Yu , Li Shenghong , Gao Junwei , Zeng Xianjun 

TITLE=Effects of primary angle-closure glaucoma on interhemispheric functional connectivity

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 17 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1053114

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2023.1053114

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Background: Previous studies on primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) primarily focused on local brain regions or global abnormal brain activity; however, the alteration of interhemispheric functional homotopy and its possible cause of brain-wide functional connectivity abnormalities have not been well-studied. Little is known about whether brain functional alteration could be used to differentiate from healthy controls (HCs) and its correlation with neurocognitive impairment.
Methods: Forty patients with PACG and 40 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited for this study; resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and clinical data were collected. We used the voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method to explore the differences between the two groups and selected brain regions with statistically significant differences as regions of interest for whole-brain functional connectivity analysis. In addition, Pearson’s correlation was used to evaluate the association between abnormal VMHC values in significantly different regions and clinical parameters. Finally, the support vector machine (SVM) model demonstrated good accuracy in classification prediction of PACG, with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.84.
Results: Compared with healthy controls, patients with PACG exhibited significantly decreased VMHC values in the lingual gyrus, insula, cuneus, and pre- and postcentral gyri; no regions exhibited increased VMHC values. Subsequent functional connectivity analysis revealed extensive functional changes in functional networks, particularly the default mode, salience, visual, and sensorimotor networks. The VMHC values in the insula were positively correlated with the vertical and horizontal cup-plate ratios. 
Conclusion: Altered functional homotopy of the visual cortex, sensorimotor network, and insula may lead to impairment of visual function in PACG, suggesting that patients with PACG may have visual information interaction and integration dysfunction. Moreover, the VMHC value of the insula may serve as an imaging marker for PACG.