Abstract
Background: Numerous anterior neuroimaging researches have revealed that corneal ulcers (CU) are related to changes in cerebral anatomic structure and functional area. Nonetheless, functional characteristics of the brain’s network organization still show no definite research results. The study was designed to confirm CU-associated spatial centrality distribution functional network of the whole cerebrum and explore the mechanism through which the larvaceous changed the intrinsic functional hubs. Material and Methods: In this study, 40 patients with CU and 40 normal controls (matched in sex, age, and education level) were enrolled in this study to undergo resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. The differences between the groups were determined by measuring the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) throughout the whole cerebrum. For the purpose of assessing the correlation between abnormal DC value and clinical variables, the Linear correlation analysis was used. Results: Compared with normal controls (NCs), CU patients revealed high DC values in the frontal lobe, precuneus, inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe in the brain functional connectivity maps throughout the brain. The intergroup differences also had high similarity on account of different thresholds. In addition, DC values were positively related to the duration of CU in the left middle frontal gyrus. Conclusions: The experimental results revealed that patients with CU showed spatially unnatural intrinsic functional hubs whether DC values increased or decreased. This brings us to a new level of comprehending the functional features of CU and may offer useful information to make us obtain a clear understanding of the dysfunction of CU.
Highlights
We can see a positive correlation between degree centrality (DC) values and the duration of corneal ulcers (CU) in the left middle frontal gyrus (r = 0.849, p < 0.001) in the DC group (Figure 5B)
It is speculated that DC can be used as significant biomarker in order to distinguish the CU group from the normal control (NC) group
We can see a positive correlation between DC values and the duration of CU in the As far as we know, CU, the method we used in this5B)
Summary
Slit lamp and fluorescein staining are common methods for the diagnosis of CU [4,5], while genomic technology is gradually applied for corneal ulcer and other ophthalmic diseases [6–8]. Both methods focus on the anterior segment and. Med. 2022, 11, 1478 ods for the diagnosis of CU [4,5], while genomic technology is gradually applied for corneal ulcer and other ophthalmic diseases [6–8] Both methods focus on the anterior andalso overlook other areas involved in visual system, especially igoverlooksegment other areas involved in visual system, especially ignoring the optic tract and noring the optic tract and visual cortex. Aimed to more accurately diagnose the disease severity of patients with corneal ulcer, delay the disease progression, and guide clinical treatment more effectively
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