title: Distinct resting-state brain activity in patients with functional constipation.
abstract: Functional constipation (FC) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) with a higher prevalence in clinical practice. The primary brain regions involved in emotional arousal regulation, somatic, sensory and motor control processing have been identified with neuroimaging in FGID. It remains unclear how these factors interact to influence the baseline brain activity of patients with FC. In the current study, we combined resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) with Granger causality analysis (GCA) to investigate the causal interactions of the brain areas in 14 patients with FC and in 26 healthy controls (HC). Our data showed significant differences in baseline brain activities in a number of major brain regions implicated in emotional process modulation (i.e. dorsal anterior cingulate cortex-dACC, anterior insula-aINS, orbitofrontal cortex-OFC, hippocampus-HIPP), somatic and sensory processing, and motor control (i.e., supplementary motor area-SMA, precentral gyrus-PreCen) (P<0.05, FDR correction). The GCA results revealed stronger effective connectivity from the OFC and dACC, which are regions involved with emotional regulation, propel limbic regions at the aINS and HIPP to induce abnormal emotional processing regulating visceral responses; and weaker effective connectivity from the SMA and PreCen, which are regions involved with somatic, sensory and motor control, propel the aINS and HIPP, suggesting abnormalities of sensory and behavioral responses. Such information of basal level functional abnormalities expands our current understanding of neural mechanisms underlying functional constipation.
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Zhu
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors: Weiwei
authors: W
authors: Cai
authors: Xijing Gastrointestinal Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors: Jianyong
authors: J
authors: Zheng
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors: Guanya
authors: G
authors: Li
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors: Qianqian
authors: Q
authors: Meng
authors: Xijing Gastrointestinal Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors: Qiaoyun
authors: Q
authors: Liu
authors: College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling Shaanxi, 712100, China.
authors: Jizheng
authors: J
authors: Zhao
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors: Karen M
authors: KM
authors: von Deneen
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors: Yuanyuan
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710038, China. Electronic address: gbcui@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors: Guangbin
authors: G
authors: Cui
authors: Department of Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710038, China.
authors: Shijun
authors: S
authors: Duan
authors: Department of Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710038, China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Han
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710032, China.
authors: Huaning
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China; Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Tian
authors: Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China. Electronic address: yizhang@xidian.edu.cn.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Xijing Gastrointestinal Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China. Electronic address: yongznie@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors: Yongzhan
authors: Y
authors: Nie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003248:Constipation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Emotional arousal; Functional constipation; Granger causality; Resting-state; Somatic and sensory; fMRI