Disturbance of functional and effective connectivity of the salience network involved in attention deficits in right temporal lobe epilepsy

Epilepsy Behav. 2021 Sep 15;124:108308. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108308. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe salience network (SN) acts as a switch that generates transient control signals to regulate the executive control network (ECN) and the default mode network (DMN) and has been implicated in cognitive processes. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is usually accompanied by different types of cognitive deficits, but whether it is associated with dysfunctional connectivity of the SN remains unknown. To address this, thirty-six patients with right TLE (rTLE) and thirty-six healthy controls (HCs) were recruited for the present study. All of the participants were subjected to attention network test (ANT) and resting-state functional resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning. The patient group showed deficits in attention performance. Moreover, the functional connectivity (FC) and effective connectivity (EC) were analyzed based on key SN hubs (the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the bilateral anterior insula (AI)). When compared with those in the HC group, the ACC showed increased FC with the left middle frontal gyrus and the left precentral gyrus, and the right AI showed decreased FC with the right precuneus and the right superior occipital gyrus in the patient group. The EC analysis revealed an increased inflow of information from the left middle temporal gyrus to the ACC and the right AI and an increased outflow of information from the bilateral AI to the left middle frontal gyrus....
Source: Epilepsy and Behaviour - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research