title: Patterns of increased intrinsic functional connectivity in patients with restless legs syndrome are associated with attentional control of sensory inputs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Potential alterations of intrinsic functional connectivity in idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS) are to be assumed since RLS is considered a network disorder. Whole-brain-based investigation of intrinsic functional connectivity networks including the sensorimotor systems in patients with RLS was compared with matched healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  'Resting-state' functional MRI (1.5 T) from 26 patients with RLS and 26 matched controls were analyzed using standardized seed-based analysis procedures. The motor/sensorimotor, sensory thalamic, ventral and dorsal attention, basal ganglia-thalamic, cingulate, and brainstem networks were used for voxel-based group comparisons between RLS patients and controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly increased connectivities were observed in the sensory thalamic, ventral and dorsal attention, basal ganglia-thalamic, and cingulate networks in RLS patients, whereas no differences could be demonstrated for the motor/sensorimotor and the brainstem system. The pattern of functional connectivity alterations was positively correlated with increasing symptom severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abnormally increased regional BOLD synchronization appears to be a key feature of intrinsic brain architecture in RLS. Alterations in cortical and sub-cortical functional networks support the notion that the underlying pathophysiology of RLS is beyond the sensorimotor and the brainstem system and may be also associated with altered attentional control of sensory inputs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorges
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosskopf
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Klaas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lindemann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany; Neuropsychiatry Centre Erding/München, Erding, Germany.
authors.forename: Magdolna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hornyak
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. Electronic address: jan.kassubek@uni-ulm.de.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kassubek
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D066191:Sensorimotor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Connectivity networks; Intrinsic functional connectivity; Magnetic resonance imaging; Resting-state connectivity study; Restless legs syndrome