Abstract
Previous studies have found neural alterations in regions involved in cognitive and affective functions among Crohn’s disease (CD) patients. The present work recruited 18 CD patients and 18 age-gender matched healthy controls (HC) and specifically compared differences in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) within the executive control network (ECN) which has been implicated in cognitive function and default mode network (DMN), which has been implicated in affective function. Additionally, we examined the correlations between RSFC in ECN and verbal fluency (VF) in both groups as well as RSFC in DMN and anxiety level in the CD group. Results showed significantly increased RSFC between the right middle frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule in ECN, as well as increased RSFC between the right precuneus and right posterior cingulate cortex in DMN, among CD patients compared to HC. However, the correlations between ECN/DMN and behavioral scores in each group were not significant, which was possibility due to the limited sample size. These findings suggest that CD patients may experience changes in the connectivity patterns in ECN and DMN. Increased connectivity observed on these networks could be a potential biomarker of a neuropsychiatric manifestation of CD.
Highlights
Crohn’s disease (CD), one of the main phenotypes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract[1], secretory gastrointestinal function and the immune system as well as increasing the intestinal permeability[2]
Based on results from previous studies, we focused on the executive control network (ECN) and default mode network (DMN), both of which have functions of cognitive control, self-regulation, emotion regulation, and memory suppression[15,16]
The ECN, which includes the regions of the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal cortex (IPC), and insula[17,18], is a less studied network, which constitutes a novel approach to investigate the integrity of brain areas underlying executive function[19]
Summary
Crohn’s disease (CD), one of the main phenotypes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract[1], secretory gastrointestinal function and the immune system as well as increasing the intestinal permeability[2]. Compared to age-matched healthy controls, CD patients show brain changes in terms of altered cortical thickness in the bilateral superior and middle frontal gyri, areas (responsible for cognitive control and responding to behaviorally salient events), and the bilateral temporal poles and insular gyri, areas (involved in socio-emotional processing). CD patients demonstrate decreased sub-cortical volumes, including the bilateral pallidum and right putamen which are associated with altered emotional and pain perception[4] These volume changes suggest there is a neural basis to the alterations in CD patients’ cognitive and affective responses. We explored the correlations between ECN connectivity and VF task as well as DMN connectivity and anxiety level
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