Assessment of functional and structural brain abnormalities with resting-state functional MRI in patients with vestibular neuronitis

Background Vestibular neuritis (VN) is a disorder manifesting as acute, isolated, spontaneous vertigo. There are few comprehensive studies on the changes in related functional and structural brain regions. Purpose To evaluate alterations in spontaneous neural activity, functional connectivity (FC), and gray matter volume (GMV) in patients with VN. Material and Methods A total of 24 patients with VN and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and three-dimensional T1-weighted anatomical imaging. We calculated the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality (DC) to discern local brain abnormalities. The most abnormal brain region was selected as the region of interest (ROI) for FC analysis based on ALFF and ReHo values after Bonferroni correction. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to assess differences in GMV. Results Patients with VN, compared to healthy controls, showed increased ALFF ( P < 0.001), ReHo values ( P = 0.002, <0.001), and DC ( P = 0.013) in the left lingual gyrus and right postcentral gyrus. FC analysis demonstrated enhanced connectivity between the left lingual gyrus and the left superior frontal gyrus, and decreased connectivity with the right insula gyrus, right and left supramarginal gyrus ( P = 0.012, 0.004, <0.001, 0.014). In addition, GMV was reduced in the bilateral caudate ( P = 0.022, 0.014). Conclusions Patients with VN exhibit abnormal spontaneous neural activity and changes in ALFF, ReHo, DC, GMV, and FC. Understanding these functional and structural brain abnormalities may elucidate the underlying mechanisms of VN.