title: Disrupted effective connectivity of the sensorimotor network in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Although dysfunctional sensorimotor network (SMN) has been frequently involved in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the causal relationship within this network remains unexplored. In this study, spectral dynamic causal modeling was applied to resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data to estimate the causal relationship of SMN in a cohort of 20 ALS patients and 21 healthy controls. The SMN components were first extracted using an independent component analysis, and then compared between the two groups to identify the abnormalities in SMN. In ALS patients, we found significant regional activity alterations in the left primary motor cortex (M1), the left primary somatosensory cortex (S1), and the right supplementary motor cortex (SMA). Among these regions, spectral DCM revealed missing closed-loop circuit between the left M1 and the right SMA, and lost projection from the right SMA to the left S1 in ALS. These findings may reflect the influences of the loss of motor neurons on motor function in ALS, and provide compelling evidence for a breakdown of the sensorimotor neural circuits in ALS. In conclusion, this study elucidates a neurobiological model that may explain the functional impairments of the SMN in ALS, and provides much deeper insights into the pathophysiology of this disease.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China. yuanchao.zhang8@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yuanchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People's Republic of China. zhangjq_radiol@foxmail.com.
authors.forename: Jiuquan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, People's Republic of China.|Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Tianzi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D066191:Sensorimotor Cortex / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Effective connectivity; Resting-state fMRI; Sensorimotor network; Spectral dynamic causal modeling