Abstract
Purpose
The present study combined resting-state functional connectivity (FC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA) to explore frontostriatal network dysfunction in unilateral acute tinnitus (AT) patients with hearing loss.
Methods
The participants included 42 AT patients and 43 healthy control (HC) subjects who underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Based on the seed regions in the frontostriatal network, FC and GCA were conducted between the AT patients and HC subjects. Correlation analyses were used to examine correlations among altered FC values, GCA values, and clinical features in AT patients.
Results
Compared with HCs, AT patients showed a general reduction in FC between the seed regions in the frontostriatal network and nonauditory areas, including the frontal cortices, midcingulate cortex (MCC), supramarginal gyrus, and postcentral gyrus (PoCG). Using the GCA algorithm, we detected abnormal effective connectivity (EC) in the inferior occipital gyrus, MCC, Cerebelum_Crus1, and PoCG. Furthermore, correlations between disrupted FC/EC and clinical characteristics, especially tinnitus distress-related characteristics, were found in AT patients.
Conclusions
Our work demonstrated abnormal FC and EC between the frontostriatal network and several nonauditory regions in AT patients with hearing loss, suggesting that multiple large-scale network dysfunctions and interactions are involved in the perception of tinnitus. These findings not only enhance the current understanding of the frontostriatal network in tinnitus but also serve as a reminder of the importance of focusing on tinnitus at an early stage.
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Availability of data and materials
The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
Not applicable.
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Funding
This work was supported by the Youth Medical Talents of Jiangsu Province (No. QNRC2016062), 14th “Six Talent Peaks” Project of Jiangsu Province (No. YY-079), Nanjing Outstanding Youth Fund (No. JQX17006), 333 High-level Talents Training Project of Jiangsu Province (No. BRA2019122), and Medical Science and Technology Development Foundation of Nanjing Department of Health (No. ZKX20037).
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Gang-Ping Zhou and Yu-Chen Chen designed the experiment, collected the data, performed the analysis, and wrote the manuscript. Wang-Wei Li, Heng-Le Wei, Yu-Sheng Yu, and Qing-Qing Zhou helped collect the data. Xindao Yin helped perform the analysis. Hong Zhang and Yue-Jin Tao contributed to the discussion and manuscript revision. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.
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Zhou, GP., Chen, YC., Li, WW. et al. Aberrant functional and effective connectivity of the frontostriatal network in unilateral acute tinnitus patients with hearing loss. Brain Imaging and Behavior 16, 151–160 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00486-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00486-9