title: Disrupted thalamic resting-state functional connectivity in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about the role of thalamus in the pathophysiology of minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the thalamic functional connectivity was disrupted in cirrhotic patients with MHE by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty seven MHE patients and twenty seven age- and gender- matched healthy controls participated in the rs-fMRI scans. The functional connectivity of 11 thalamic nuclei were characterized by using a standard seed-based whole-brain correlation method and compared between MHE patients and healthy controls. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between the thalamic functional connectivity and venous blood ammonia levels/neuropsychological tests scores of patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ventral anterior nucleus (VAN) and the ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPMN) in each side of thalamus showed abnormal functional connectivities in MHE. Compared with healthy controls, MHE patients demonstrated significant decreased functional connectivity between the right/left VAN and the bilateral putamen/pallidum, inferior frontal gyri, insula, supplementary motor area, right middle frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus. In addition, MHE patients showed significantly decreased functional connectivity with the right/left VPMN in the bilateral middle temporal gyri (MTG), temporal lobe, and right superior temporal gyrus. The venous blood ammonia levels of MHE patients negatively correlated with the functional connectivity between the VAN and the insula. Number connecting test scores showed negative correlation with the functional connectivity between the VAN and the insula, and between the VPMN and the MTG.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MHE patients had disrupted thalamic functional connectivity, which mainly located in the bilateral ventral anterior nuclei and ventral posterior medial nuclei. The decreased connectivity between thalamus and many cortices, and basal ganglia indicated reduced integrity of thalamic RSN in MHE.
authors: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Clinical School of Medical College, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors: Rongfeng
authors: R
authors: Qi
authors: Long Jiang
authors: LJ
authors: Zhang
authors: Jianhui
authors: J
authors: Zhong
authors: Zhiqiang
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
authors: Ling
authors: L
authors: Ni
authors: Gang
authors: G
authors: Zheng
authors: Guang Ming
authors: GM
authors: Lu
mesh_terms: D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012146:Rest; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*