Alterations Of Resting-state And Dynamic Functional Connectivity Of The Caudate Nucleus In Patients With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Objective Temporal lobe epilepsy(TLE)often involve cognitive impairment,such as executive dysfunction,memory impairment,and language deficit.The executive dysfunction in TLE are associated with abnormalities in regional brain function and functional connectivity,yet the mechanism correlates of the disruption of temporal lobe executive function are poorly understood.To investigate the alterations in caudate nucleus resting-state and dynamic functional connectivity and their relationships with executive function in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy(TLE).Methods Twenty TLE patients and twenty healthy controls(HC)were recruited for the study.All of the subjects underwent an attention network test(ANT)and functional magnetic resonance imaging(f MRI)scan.The executive control network efficiency were compared among temporal lobe epilepsy(TLE)and healthy controls.The bilateral caudate nucleus were selected as regions of interest(ROI)to evaluate the differences between the two groups.Correlation analyses were employed to examine the relationships between the efficiency of executive control network and alterations in caudate nucleus rs FC and d FC in patients with TLE.Results Compared to the HC group,the executive function of the patients were impaired(P<0.05).The rs FC between the left caudate nucleus and the left cerebellum posterior lobe was decreased,and showed decreased d FC variance between the left caudate nucleus and the right anterior cingulate gyrus in the patients with TLE.In the patient group,the right frontal lobe exhibited increased rs FC with the right caudate nucleus,and higher d FC variance with the right caudate nucleus over the right posterior central back.(P<0.01,Alphasim correction).Moreover,the efficiency of the execution control network positively correlated with the right caudate nucleus rs FC with the right frontal lobe(r=0.604,P=0.005).Conclusion Our findings highlight the importance of the caudate nucleus to the executive dysfunctional in patients with TLE and suggest that damage to the caudate nucleus executive functional networks,and compensation mechanism in some brain areas,are present in patients with TLE.The decline of efficiency of the execution control network correlated with the decrease of right caudate nucleus rs FC with the right frontal lobe.