Effect of Impaired Stereoscopic Vision on Large-Scale Resting-State Functional Network Connectivity in Comitant Exotropia Patients

Han Jin,Ping-Hong Lai,Yu-Lin Zhong,Ri-Bo Chen,Xin Huang

doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.833937

Abstract

BackgroundComitant exotropia (CE) is a common eye movement disorder, characterized by impaired eye movements and stereoscopic vision. CE patients reportedly exhibit changes in the central nervous system. However, it remains unclear whether large-scale brain network changes occur in CE patients.PurposeThis study investigated the effects of exotropia and stereoscopic vision dysfunction on large-scale brain networks in CE patients via independent component analysis (ICA).MethodsTwenty-eight CE patients (mean age, 15.80 ± 2.46 years) and 27 healthy controls (HCs; mean age, 16.00 ± 2.68 years; closely matched for age, sex, and education) underwent resting-state magnetic resonance imaging. ICA was applied to extract resting-state networks (RSNs) in both groups. Two-sample’s t-tests were conducted to investigate intranetwork functional connectivity (FC) within RSNs and interactions among RSNs between the two groups.ResultsCompared with the HC group, the CE group showed increased intranetwork FC in the bilateral postcentral gyrus of the sensorimotor network (SMN). The CE group also showed decreased intranetwork FC in the right cerebellum_8 of the cerebellum network (CER), the right superior temporal gyrus of the auditory network (AN), and the right middle occipital gyrus of the visual network (VN). Moreover, functional network connectivity (FNC) analysis showed that CER-AN, SMN-VN, SN-DMN, and DMN-VN connections were significantly altered between the two groups.ConclusionComitant exotropia patients had abnormal brain networks related to the CER, SMN, AN, and VN. Our results offer important insights into the neural mechanisms of eye movements and stereoscopic vision dysfunction in CE patients.

Highlights

Comitant exotropia (CE) is a common eye movement disorder, characterized by ocular deviation and impaired stereoscopic vision function; CE affects 1.0% of all children (Govindan et al, 2005)
There were no significant differences in the gender and age between the groups (Table 1)
Consistent with these prior reports, we found that the CE group had decreased functional connectivity in the right cerebellum_8 of the CER, which might lead to impaired eye movement and binocular vision in CE patients

Summary

Introduction

Comitant exotropia (CE) is a common eye movement disorder, characterized by ocular deviation and impaired stereoscopic vision function; CE affects 1.0% of all children (Govindan et al, 2005). Impaired stereoscopic vision is an important clinical manifestation of CE (Feng et al, 2015). CE patients exhibit impaired stereoscopic vision because of anomalous retinal correspondence for the same object in both eyes. Central nervous system function is important for stereoscopic vision. Comitant exotropia (CE) is a common eye movement disorder, characterized by impaired eye movements and stereoscopic vision. CE patients reportedly exhibit changes in the central nervous system It remains unclear whether large-scale brain network changes occur in CE patients. Purpose: This study investigated the effects of exotropia and stereoscopic vision dysfunction on large-scale brain networks in CE patients via independent component analysis (ICA)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion