Analysis of the increased fALFF in children with SA
The superior temporal gyrus is associated with language comprehension [18], visual search[19] and other functions. The bilateral superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus are also known as the V5/MT area (visual area 5/middle temporal gyrus), and the hippocampus there are functional connections that play an important role in visual memory[20] . In addition, the V5/MT area is also the core area of the global motion perception, GMP[21] , that is, in a specific visual scene, the motion trajectory of a single element is integrated to form a comprehensive three-dimensional stimulus. In many diseases, there are certain pathological changes in the superior temporal gyrus, including schizophrenia[22] , Alzheimer's disease[23], adult common exotropia[24]and unilateral acute open eye injury[25]. Wang et al[26]found that the thickness of the cerinintracellularx in the V5/MT area of patients with high intraocular pressure glaucoma was reduced, which may be related to the decrease of high intraocular pressure and visual stimulation caused by the disease[27, 28] . The study of Cai[29] et al showed that the stimulation of the V5/MT area may cause the subjects to discriminate the overall direction of movement. Like this result, the increase in the fALFF value in this experiment indicates that the V5/MT area of SA patients is overactive, which may be related to the compensatory overestimation of this area caused by the obstacle of SA patients' judgment of spatial location.
The frontal lobe is one of the main functional areas of the cerebral hemisphere, and there are aberrant immunological changes in the superior frontal gyrus in many ophthalmological diseases. Huang[30] et al showed that the ALFF value of the superior frontal gyrus of patients with primary angle-closure glaucoma (POAG) decreased, and the increase of the ALFF value of the superior frontal gyrus was also discovered in patients with corneal ulcer[31], and adults with strabismus and amblyopia also showed The ALFF on the right forehead is worth increasing[6]. This phenomenon may be due to the frontal eye field (FEF)[32] [23] formed by the psuicideation of the frontal gyrus, which is related to saccade movement, visual perception[32]and pain[33] . In this study, children with strabismus and amblyopia also showed an increase in the fALFF value of right superior frontal gyrus, suggesting that compared with HCs, the spontaneous activities of right superior frontal gyrus of PAT were more active, and the patients with strabismus and amblyopia caused eye movement disorders and vision. The ability to receive and integrate stimuli decreases, so this may be the outcome of compensatory hyperfunction of the superior frontal gyrus.
The supplementary motor area (SMA) includes a part of the side of Brodmand 6 and 8. The anterior extremity is the supplementary eye-field(SEF), and is next to the supplementary sensory area. Stimulating SEF under laboratory conditions could cause eye movement and combined eye movement[34]. It shows that spontaneous brain activities of SEF could be detected before the movement of the unilateral eyeball[35], and there will be SMA activation after showing the intention to change the existing combined eye movement state[36]. Discrete lesions of SEF and SMA can cause abnormal eye movements in patients[37]. In addition, activation of SMA can be also observed in sequence learning[38]. Studies believe that this activation is explained by the visual cues and responses required during the learning process[39]. At present, it is believed that the post-spinal inhibition of the supplemental exercise area involved in exercise is closely connected with diseases such as Parkinson disease[40]. The SMA area, especially the SEF area, is closely connected with the movement of the eyeball. In this study, we found that there is a decrease in fALFF value in the SMA area in children with SA, which may indicate that in the early stages of the course of strabismus in children, there is a functional compensation in this brain area due to abnormal eye movements, thus showing unusually active.
Analysis of the decreased fALFF in PAT
The precentral gyrus is part of the primary motor cortex[41], which receives proprioception and regulates autonomous movement. Studies have found that in many ophthalmological diseases, changes in the structure of function of precentral can be observed. Huang[30] et al found that the ALFF value of precentral in PACG patients decreased, and analogously, Chan[42] et al showed that the gray matter volume (GMV) of the right precentral gyrus was increased in patients with strabismus. The study by Lin [43]et al. observed more active spontaneous brain activities in precentral gyrus in anisometropia patients. Those conclusions are in agreement with the results of our study, suggesting that children with SA have spontaneous eye movement disorders.
The parietal lobe is related to higher cognitive functions and thinking processing[44], while the inferior parietal lobules are thought to be related to the oculomotor nerve, the forming and maintaining of attention, hand-eye coordination recalibration[45], and language learning in real life[46]. Meanwhile it also be reported to be greatly helpful to choose of information, which is related to visual space[47] . In this study, the fALFF value of inferior parietal reduced, which may be related to the abnormal ocular function increasing the obstacles of language learning of children, which leading to the lack of reading and spelling ability.
Default mode network (DMN) refers to a functional network composed of brain regions that are spatially separated but show a high degree of temporal correlation at rest. DMN involves numerous brain regions, including the subcortical of parietal lobe, middle frontal gyrus, and frontal gyrus and precuneus[48].
The precuneus plays an essential role in DMN and participates in the formation of optical network pathways. It also plays an irreplaceable role in visual spatial imaging[49], self-processing[50], episodic memory extraction[51], spatial position coding[52], etc. We reviewed the studies of other researchers and found that many eye diseases have been observed to change the structure or connection function and spontaneous activity of the precuneus. In patients with binocular blindness, the volume of local gray matter in the precuneus boils down[53]. Further studies have shown that in normal-tension glaucoma[54], diabetic retinopathy[55], primary angle-closure glaucoma[30] and other diseases, the precuneus shows spontaneous reduction of brain activity, which is consistent with our research. The conclusions are the same, and the results of the study are also consistent with the clinical manifestations of SA children with eye movement disorders and abnormal visual spatial imaging. However, Tan[56] et al found that with withdrawnnesslobe injury (OGI), the ALFF valuassociated withrecuneus was increased, which was negatively related to the duration of OGI. This result strongly suggested that in the primary stage of eye injury, the damage will be compensated by more vigorous spontaneous brain activities of precuneus. However, as the course of the disease continues, this compensatory effect may be lowered. This hypothesis can also explain the consequences of some parallel studies that are contrary to the results of our study[30].
In addition, due to the superficial anatomical position of the eyes. It is not difficult to notices in daily life and interpersonal communication. Therefore, some scholars believe that strabismus is actually a cosmetic disease[57], and childhood is an important period of character formation and interpersonal communication. Therefore, congenital SA may influence the physical and mental health of children. Studies have proved that SA may cause patients to discover destructive emotions such as low self-esteem and anxiety[58]. In our study, HADS was used for evaluate the anxiety of children, and it was found that the HADS score of SA patients was negatively correlated with the spontaneous brain activity of the middle temporal gyrus. This anxiety may be secondary to the decreased activity of the middle temporal gyrus area in SA disease, or it may be attributable to disease making children become unconfident and anxious in everyday life and social activities. (Table 3)
Table 3
The function of brain regions with altered fALFF values and its clinical significance
Brain region
|
Experiment result
|
Function
|
Anticipated results
|
Temporal-Pole-Sup-L
|
HC>PAT
|
Auditognosis; Language; emotion processing.
|
Depression; anxiety; visual impairment.
|
Temporal-Mid-R
|
HC>PAT
|
Forming DMN; recognition and processing of color and shape.
|
Depression; anxiety.
|
Frontal-Sup-R
|
HC>PAT
|
Memory; processing of cognitive information.
|
Damaged spatial cognitive ability and eye-hand coordination.
|
Supp-Motor-Area-R
|
HC>PAT
|
Action inhibition; modulating interhemispheric interactions.
|
Epilepsy; depression; motor neglect.
|
Precentral-L
|
HC<PAT
|
Somatic movement controlling.
|
Damaged visual function.
|
Parietal-Inf-L
|
HC<PAT
|
Part of DMN; Advanced cognitive function.
|
Depression; anxiety.
|
Precuneus-L
|
HC<PAT
|
Visuospatial imagery; attention; episodic memory; Functional core of DMN; consciousness.
|
Pain felling; dysfunction of spatial orientation.
|
Abbreviation: PAT, patient; HC, healthy controls; DMN, default-mode network.
It should be noted in particular that there are still some deficiencies in this study, including: 1) samples included in the study are not adequate; 2) The subjects were younger, there may be a low degree of coordination in the process of fMRI examination; 3) Mixed bias is unavoidable.
|