Study Of Normal Tension Glaucoma,NTG By Functional Connectivity In Resting State Functional MRI Based On V1 Seed Point

Objective: The changes of brain FC in patients with NTG and HCs were studied by using the FC technology based on V1 seed point of rs-f MRI,in order to explore the pathogenesis and early diagnosis methods of NTG patients.Methods: Fourteen NTG patients and fourteen healthy controls(HCs)who met the inclusion criteria were collected.Both groups were 6 males and 8 females.Collect the clinical data of the subjects,and the subjects in both groups underwent rs-f MRI.After preprocessing the obtained data,we selected bilateral V1 regions as seed points to verify the correlation between voxel time series in different brain regions and various parameters in V1 regions.At the same time,independent sample t-tests were used to compare functional connectivity data between the V1 region and the whole brain region in different groups of subjects,and Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between FC and clinical variables in the brain regions with significant functional connectivity differences between the NTG group and the V1 region.Results:1.Compared with the HCs group,there were no statistically significant differences in general data such as age(P=0.522),gender(P=1.000),body weight(P=0.980),and 24-hour mean intraocular pressure(P=0.347)in the NTG group.However,in the best corrected visual acuity(BCVA)(right eye)(P<0.001),There were significant statistical differences in BCVA(left eye)(P=0.001),retinal nerve fiber layer thickness(RNFLT)around the optic disc(P<0.001),binocular average cup/disc(P<0.001),and binocular average field deviation(P<0.001).2.Compared with HCs group,the brain areas with decreased FC at the ROI1 and ROI2 in NTG group were left FL/SFG,right FL/SFG and left LL/CC,right FL/MFG.3.Pearson linear correlation analysis showed that ROI1-left SFG(r=0.5565,P=0.0388),ROI1-right SFG(r=0.6001,P=0.0233),ROI2-left CC(r=0.6030,P=0.0225)and ROI2-right MFG(r=0.6299,P=0.0158)were significantly and positively correlated with the RNFLT around the optic disc.Conclusion: Compared with HCs group,functional connections between certain brain regions and V1 region in NTG patients have significant changes,including bilateral SFG,left CC and right MFG.The functional connectivity between the four brain regions and the V1 region in the above-mentioned NTG patients is reduced,which may reflect the underlying neuropathological mechanism of NTG disease and its relationship to brain dysfunction.