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Topological Reorganization of the Default Mode Network in Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the topological reorganization of the brain default mode network (DMN) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). With approval by our ethics committee, rs-fMRI was prospectively performed in 31 IBS patients (25 male, 27 ± 8 years) and 32 healthy controls (25 male, 29 ± 9 years). The DMN was determined by unbiased seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis and then parcellated into several subregions. FC across all pairs of DMN subregions was computed to construct the DMN architecture, for which topological properties were characterized by graph theoretical approaches. Pearson correlation was performed between abnormal DMN inter-regional FC and network measures and clinical indices in IBS patients. Compared to healthy controls, IBS patients showed decreased DMN inter-regional FC between the anterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, the medial orbital of the superior frontal gyrus (ORBsupmed) and precuneus, and the middle temporal gyrus and precuneus. IBS patients also showed decreased DMN global efficiency (E glob). Inclusion of anxiety and depression as covariates abolished FC between ORBsupmed and precuneus and some E glob differences. The average DMN FC was positively correlated with average E glob (r = 0.47, P = 0.008) and negatively correlated with symptom severity score (r = −0.37, P = 0.04) in IBS patients. In conclusion, IBS patients showed topological reorganization of the DMN to a non-optimized regularity configuration, which may partly be ascribed to high levels of anxiety and depression.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the grants from the Natural Scientific Foundation of China (grant nos. 81322020, 81230032, and 81171313 for L.J.Z. and 81301209 for R.Q.), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in the University (NCET-12-0260 for L.J.Z.), and the Chinese Key Program (grant nos. BWS11J063 and 10z026 for G.M.L.). Dr. Rongfeng Qi (the first author) had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu Province, China

    Rongfeng Qi, Jun Ke, U. Joseph Schoepf, Qiang Xu, Long Jiang Zhang & Guang Ming Lu

  2. Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Medical University of South Carolina, Ashley River Tower, MSC 226, 25 Courtenay Dr, Charleston, SC, 29401, USA

    U. Joseph Schoepf, Akos Varga-Szemes & Cole M. Milliken

  3. Department of Gastroenterology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China

    Chang Liu & Fangyu Wang

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  1. Rongfeng Qi
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Correspondence to Long Jiang Zhang or Guang Ming Lu.

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U.J.S. is a consultant for and/or receives research support from Bayer, Bracco, GE Healthcare, Medrad, and Siemens Healthcare. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Qi, R., Ke, J., Schoepf, U.J. et al. Topological Reorganization of the Default Mode Network in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Mol Neurobiol 53, 6585–6593 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-015-9558-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-015-9558-7

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