Intrinsic low-frequency oscillation changes in multiple-frequency bands in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Abnormal local spontaneous brain activity during the resting state has been observed in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, it is still largely unclear whether the abnormalities are related to specific frequency bands. Our purpose was to explore intrinsic neural activity changes in different frequency bands by using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method in stable COPD patients. Nineteen stable COPD patients and twenty gender-, age- and education-matched normal controls (NCs) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, cognitive function tests and lung function tests. Two different frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027-0.073Hz; slow-5: 0.01-0.027Hz) were calculated and analyzed for frequency-dependent intrinsic neural activity by using the ALFF method. A two-way analysis of variance test was used to compare the main effects of the groups and the frequency bands in the ALFF method. Further post-hoc t-tests were used to compare the differences between COPD patients and NCs in terms of the different frequency bands. A Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationship between the altered ALFF brain areas in the different frequency bands and the clinical evaluations in the COPD patients. There were main effects of the groups including significantly higher ALFF values in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG), the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe (CPL), the right lingual gyrus (LG) and the right brainstem, and as well as significantly decreased ALFF values in the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and the angular. The main effect of frequency was demonstrated in the CPL, the STG, the prefrontal cortex and the middle cingulate gyrus. Furthermore, COPD patients exhibited more widespread alterations in intrinsic brain activity in the slow-5 band than in the slow-4 band. Moreover, the abnormal intrinsic brain activity in the slow-4 and slow-5 bands were associated with PaCO2 in COPD patients. These current results indicated that COPD patients showed abnormal intrinsic brain activity in two different frequency bands, and abnormal intrinsic neuronal activity in different brain regions could be better detected by slow-5 band. These observations may provide a neoteric view into understanding the local neural psychopathology in stable COPD patients.